The Lost Daughter
by Runnerload
Summary: Gibbs daughter Kelly Gibbs returns into his life, how will Gibbs react when they meet for the first time, after all these years he thought she was dead?
1. Chapter 1

NCIS- The Lost daughter

_AN: Hi everybody, this is my very first NCIS story so please bear with me, if the characters of the show are maybe written a little bit out of character. This story is about Kelly Gibbs, the daughter of Jethro Gibbs surprisingly returning. How will Gibbs react?_

Chapter 1

_Somewhere near the Mexican/ American Border_

It almost felt to her, that she had been held captive in this hole for a hundred years. Her captors hadn't given her much food and water to drink, just barely enough so she wouldn't die and to her it felt like her body was getting weaker and weaker by the day, she knew she had to get away from hear before it was too late. _But how am I going to be doing that? Those men are not only bigger but surely a lot stronger than me!_

In her mind she started to form a plan to get out of here, maybe it would be the best to wait till the night came, then her chances of getting out of here in one piece where a lot bigger. Just a few feet away a muscular man, with a look on his face that he could blew a hole in the wall with if he wanted sat on a steel chair with an AK-47 leaning on the wall, so he could grab it anytime he wanted. Then another one of the guards opened the very old steel door, walked up to her with a menacingly look on his face and said: "Open your mouth and eat!" She did as she was told and the man practically shoved in the disgusting food in her mouth. She was glad as the man was finally away and right now, she really wished she had something good to the drink, to get this disgusting taste of the food from a few minutes ago totally out of her mouth.

_NCIS Headquarters, Washington DC_

Ziva and Tony stepped out of the elevator as it came to a stop on the floor, where the NCIS bullpen and the office of the NCIS Director Leon Vance were located. To Tony's big surprise Mc Gee's desk was still empty this morning, so he said to Ziva: "I wonder where Mc Goof is, usually he is the first of us that arrives in the office in the morning."

"I'm sure his car just broke down or he's sick today, anyway he's definitely going to call anyone of us if he gets later into the office or is sick." Ziva said taking Mc Gee's side a little bit and then the two sat down at their desks and waited for the next case to come. Since Gibbs was nowhere to be seen, Tony grabbed his phone on his desk and dialed the number of his last night's date: The lovely brunette Laura, with who he had a really great time in that little comfy bar, just a few blocks away from his home. "Hey baby, I hope you enjoyed last night as much as I did." Tony said into the telephone in a flirty voice and grinning from ear to ear right into Ziva's direction, who was checking her e-mails at the moment. "Hi Tony, last night was great! I miss you so much; maybe you could come by after work so we can have a little fun together, if you know what I mean?" Tony couldn't stop grinning now and mimicked to Ziva, with his hands that the phone was hot that he had burnt his hands.

Laura was really that kind of women he absolutely adored and unlike the other women, who he quickly said goodbye to, the thing with Laura had been going for almost a month now. Then the doors of the elevator opened and Tony became a little sweaty for a moment, because he first thought that Gibbs would now arrive at the office but was really glad, when he saw a pretty exhausted Mc Gee coming out of the elevator. "Hey Elves King, why so late?" Tony said to Mc Gee, while covering the phone with one hand. Mc Gee sighed heavily and said: "My car broke down Tony, I had to get driven to work by my sister." While Tony was still flirting on the phone with Laura, the elevator doors opened again, but this time Tony didn't pay attention to it, even Ziva and Mc Gee didn't warn him off Gibbs arrival, Gibbs then silently like a ninja approached Tony's desk, gave him a hard slap to the head and said: "No private phone conversations at work Dinozzo!" Realizing the jeopardy he was in right now, he quickly said into the phone: "Got to hang up now Laura, talk to you later bye."

He then gently rubbed the back of his head, which was still hurting a little because of the slap from Gibbs and then said: "Sorry Boss that is not going to happen again." Then as Gibbs walked to his desk, his phone rang, after the short conversation on the phone he said: "Gear up, we've got a dead navy LT in a park in Norfolk." Mc Gee, Tony and Ziva got their stuff, they needed for work out of their desks and Tony pushed the button for the elevator to come up again. Gibbs almost didn't make it on time into the elevator, but Mc Gee held the door open for his boss. As they finally arrived in the garage, Gibbs tossed Ziva the keys to the NCIS truck, what caused the former Mossad officer to grin triumphantly at Tony and got very special agent Dinozzo a little bit worried because he knew of Ziva's very risky driving style.

As usually Mister Palmer and Ducky arrived a little later then the other team members, because Palmer still had some trouble reading the road map right. After had finished a first examination of the body, Gibbs walked up to the medical examiner of NCIS and said: "You have something interesting for me Duck?"

"Yes Jethro, our navy lt died because of heavy hit to the head, but I can be more specific when I had him on the table. Time of death was yesterday evening around 8' o clock."

"Thanks Duck. Tony talk to the women that found the body, Ziva make some photos of the crime scene and Mc Gee search for some evidence around the crime scene."

_Somewhere near Mexican/American Border_

Kelly Gibbs sat still on the chair, in her mind still working on a plan for her escape, but right now it was really frustrating her that she couldn't think of anything useful. She really missed her dad, if he would know that she was here, he would rescue her or would he?

The problem was her dad didn't know she was still alive, he thought she had died almost 15 or 17 years ago killed by the gunmen of the Mexican drug cartel, that now held her captive in the middle of nowhere. Since her captors had locked her away from reality, she had lost the feeling for time, she didn't know where she even spent the last years, because she hadn't seen any daylight since she had been brought here.

Later it was getting dark and Kelly had finally put together a plan for her escape, which had to work, it was her only chance and if she failed there would be no escape for her. Kelly asked for something to drink, the guard brought a bottle of water, she drank a couple of big sips from the bottle then she said: "I need to pee; you need get me out of the robe to do that." She added as the guard evilly looked at her. Then he escorted her outside, she said as he still watched her closely: "Please I need some privacy, so look the other way, I promise I won't try to run away!" As the guard turned around, Kelly pretended to pee but instead she searched for something to hit the guard with before they went back inside. Finally she found a sharp stone that was little enough to put it in one pocket of her jeans. Before they got back inside and before the guard put the robe back on, she grabbed the Stone quickly out of her pocket, hit the guard before hard before he could fire his AK-47 at her and hit the ground. Kelly ran away as fast as she could, meanwhile another guard found his buddy outside and alarmed his other colleagues.

_AN: I Hope you like this chapter please read and review_


	2. Chapter 2

NCIS- the Lost Daughter

Chapter 2

_NCIS Headquarters, Washington DC_

"You've got something for me Abs?" Gibbs asked as he stepped into the lab of the gothic scientist Abby Sciuto, with a Caff Pow, Abby's favorite drink in one hand.

"Of Course I've got something for you Gibbs, I've found fingerprints on the weapon Mc Gee found at the Crime Scene and there are from this man." A picture from a man in his mid-thirty's appeared on the computer screen in Abby's lab and Gibbs asked:

"Anything else Abs?" The Goth thought about it for a moment, and then added: "Yes, the weird residue Ziva found on the clothing of the victim is sugar powder."

"Thanks Abs, good job." Gibbs said and kissed her on the right cheek and placed the Caff Pow right on the table in the lab. Jethro then walked back into the bullpen of NCIS and right at the moment he entered it, Mc Gee said: "Boss I went through the financial transactions of LT Pete Walker and came across something weird in his bank records, Walker received three deposits of 5,000 Dollars to his account in the last three weeks before his death."

"Do we also know from whom the money came?" Leroy Jethro Gibbs asked, took one sip of his coffee and hoped for a positive answer from Mc Gee. "Sadly no Boss, the only thing we know right now is that the money came from off shore account on the Caymen Islands but we will soon know who made the deposits to the bank account of Walker. " "Tony, find Walter Harris and check for the contacts he had, since he was released from prison last year."

"On it Boss." Tony said and started to search for Walter Harris on his Computer in the NCIS database. Mc Gee meanwhile tried his best to find out, who made this very suspicious payments to the bank account of Navy LT Pete Walker, even if that proved to be a lot of difficult than expected. Meanwhile Ziva had finally found more background information about LT Walker, grabbed the remote for the large plasma monitor in the big bullpen and put the found information with the push of one button on the big screen.

"Lt Pete Walker, 40 Years old, leaves one Wife, Jessica Walker, also in the military and two Kids: Jasmine and Alexander behind. No criminal record, every commanding officer I spoke with on the phone describe him as one truly formidable Navy officer that always did his duty on board the ships he's been without any flaws or negative incidents. I already called the wife, she's on her way here for questioning." Gibbs took another sip from coffee, walked back to his desk and said to Ziva: "Dig a little deeper into Lt Walkers background, I want to if he had any people, who hated him very much."

"Ok I'll get right on it, Gibbs." Ziva answered, put the remote back on Gibbs desk, sat down behind her desk again and rigged a little deeper into Walker's background. To Gibbs this whole case was mysterious, so many questions popping up right now but no answers but he was very sure , that they would soon get to the bottom of this whole thing. Later the wife of the victim, Jessica Walker had finally arrived, Gibbs personally escorted her to the conference room.

After he had closed the door behind them he sat down, across to Miss Walker at the table and said: "Miss Walker I'm very sorry for your loss, to find the murder of your husband, you need to answer to me some questions."

"Of Course Agent Gibbs, I'm willing to do anything to find that bastard that killed Pete as fast as possible." Miss Walker said and wiped away some tears that threatened to fall down her cheeks. Gibbs took another sip of his coffee and said: "Did your husband have any enemies that have threatened him or you in the past?"

"No! Pete was a good guy, every one of his colleagues loved him or would he have ever started a fight with one of his comrades." Some tears again fell down her cheeks but this time Jessica Walker let them fall freely. After a couple of minutes she finally calmed down again and said: "But there's one thing I noticed the last weeks, he was acting really weird, maybe I'm overreacting but I think he hid something from me the whole time. Please find the person who did this to Pete, he was a good man and didn't deserve to die that way." After Gibbs had assured that the person who did this to Pete, would be put to justice, he escorted her out of the conference room and then the widow left

the building through the elevator.

Then Tony walked up to Gibbs and said: "I found Walter Harris last known address, Boss."

"Check it out Dinozzo and take Ziva with you."

"On it Boss." With Ziva in tow Tony walked to the elevator and right at that moment, Gibbs desk phone rang. Gibbs looked at the display and wondered what interesting things ducky had found and finally then answered the phone: "Yes ducky?"

"Jethro, come down to Autopsy, I've found something interesting and unexpected in the body of LT Pete Walker."

"I'll be right there duck." A few minutes later he was down in autopsy and still couldn't really believe what Doctor Mallard had just told him: He had found residue of Heroin in his body and even evidence that the body of the dead LT had served as a drug courier. Did that really mean Pete Walker had been living a double live all this time and nobody had known about it? Now the case was really getting more and more mysterious and there was still the question, for who had he worked as a drug courier? At the moment he got finally back to the office, before Mc Gee could say anything he said: "I know Mc Gee, Walker worked as a drug courier for a drug cartel probably and received the suspicious payments from them."

"Yes Boss and to be exact: he was paid by the second biggest drug cartel in Mexico The Salasars, where the former boss Hugo Salasar got killed from an unknown sniper seventeen years ago ." As Mc Gee mentioned that name Gibbs flashed back a couple of years, to that one tragic day, where he had lost his beloved daughter and his wife on one day. He had really thought that he had buried this whole thing forever but now the past came back to haunt him and could jeopardize his whole career. "Boss is everything ok?"

"Yes Mc Gee, anything else to say?"

"No Boss." Mc Gee got back to work and for a couple of minutes he couldn't get the odd behavior from his boss out of his mind. Did it still hurt after all these years? Mc Gee certainly didn't want to be in Gibbs shoes because he definitely was going through an emotion hell since his daughter and wife had been killed by Hugo Salasar seventeen years ago.

_Near the Mexican/ American Border_

Gladly Kelly had brought a lot of miles between her and the dark compound she had been held captive all these years. But her kidnappers were still in close pursuit of her. They had almost caught the morning after she had escaped, when some the guards ambushed her while she was sleeping on the hard ground in the woods but thankfully she could fight out of this predicament and continued her escape to the Mexican/American Border, hoping that she would soon reach American soil.

_AN: thanks to- uk girl 71 for adding this story to her favorite stories list, thanks to- megoni for adding this story to his/ her story alert subscription, thanks to- fart fart for reviewing this story, thanks to- Jupiter Lily for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription and reviewing this story. Thanks to- stargatesg1973 for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, thanks to Butterfly Queen 123456 for adding this story to her/ his story alert subscription, thanks to- Erin Walton for reviewing this story and adding it to her story alert subscription. Thanks to- cheether for reviewing this story and adding it to his/ her story alert subscription. Thanks to- psychlover for reviewing this story, thanks to- Potter Weasley 5 for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription._

_I hope you like this chapter, please read and review_


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

_Near the Mexican/ American Border_

It was getting dark again when Kelly finally nearly reached the border, now not so far away anymore from reaching her final destination. She began running again, as she heard a car behind her loudly roaring and apparently coming nearer to her position very fast.

The whole running thing took a lot of energy out of her but she kept pushing herself to and above her personal limit because she knew she had to keep going or her escape would be over and she would never ever get another chance to get out of this dirty and dark hole in the middle of nowhere. Her body craved for a break but she knew that she couldn't afford to make even one tiny pause or else the gunmen that chased her would close the gap to her very fast.

Kelly's body began to ache very bad under the pressure of the constant running but she kept on saying to herself that had to keep on running, because her final destination wasn't that far away anymore. While testing out the limits of her body, her thoughts wandered to her dad Leroy Jethro Gibbs and she was really asking herself right now what he was up to these days. What would he say, when they would meet after all these years again? Surely her dad wouldn't be able to believe, that she hadn't been in the car seventeen years ago on the day her mother died. Anyway she really looked forward to seeing her dad, but right at this moment, there's one question she couldn't answer: How could she get in contact with her dad? She didn't know, if he still lived in the same place where he used to live with her and her mom.

Then she decided to put this question in the back of her mind because that whole thing got her too distracted right, she would take care of this problem when she had finally reached American Soil.

_NCIS Headquarters, Washington DC_

Right at the moment Gibbs had returned from Abby's lab, the phone on his desk rang. When Gibbs answered it, Ziva on the other end of the line said: "We went through the laptop at Walter Harris and it seems that he has connections to the second biggest drug cartel in Mexico: The Salasar Cartel. He's not your average criminal; the Salasar Cartel is involved in human trafficking, we found some addresses for warehouses and data for suspicious payments to high ranking Police officers in Mexico."

"You've found any connection between Walker and Harris?"

"I'm afraid not Gibbs a lot of data on the Computer was inaccessible, we get the PC back to the office maybe Mc Gee can get something more out of it."

"Did you find anything else interesting?"

"Not yet Gibbs, the neighbors of Harris said that they haven't seen him a couple of weeks but according to Jack Pearson, the man that rented the apartment to Harris said that he always paid the rent on time." Ziva then hung up after Gibbs had told her to keep searching for anything interesting in Harris apartment.

_Norfolk, Walter Harris Apartment_

Tony and Ziva were searching separately through the other rooms of the apartment, when suddenly the door swung open with a very loud bang. The two quickly drew their weapons, Tony was the first one that looked very careful around the corner and saw two masked gunmen, coming through the door with their drawn weapons scanning practically every inch of the apartment that lay ahead of them. Before they could spot him Tony quickly got his head back into hiding behind the wall of the bedroom and knew that this whole thing would become very ugly very fast.

The two then finally got out of their hiding places, when the two gunmen had finally reached Ziva's and Tony's position and a huge fire fight ensued. The masked gunmen took cover in the kitchen area, Tony's and Ziva's scream identifying themselves as federal agents and demanding to their attackers to drop their weapons were answered by continued gun fire.

This continued till the two gunmen tried to overrun Ziva and Tony, one gunman giving the other one cover fire but right as one of the masked gunmen got out of his hiding Ziva took the opportunity and took one of them out. The other one was now running in their direction like a Japanese kamikaze pilot and with a good timed shot Tony hit the gunmen with one shot in his knee, Ziva was right away by his side, pinned the one surviving attacker hard to the ground and put his hands behind his back with the help of the shackles.

"What were you searching for in Walter Harris apartment? Tell me!"

"I will tell you nothing!" The masked man said after Tony had ripped of the mask of the face of the one surviving attacker. Tony and Ziva pulled the gunman up and got him back to their car, even if he wasn't really willingly going with them back to the car and even tried to escape one time.

_Mexican/American Border_

With her captors still in close pursuit Kelly finally reached the big border fence, searching for a hole in the fence for a while and got a little worried when she didn't find one immediately. The noise of the car now came nearer to her again and she got very desperate, but finally she found an opening in the fence that was big enough for her to get through and after she had reached the other side of the fence she started to run again.

A few minutes later she was then stopped by a border patrol, as the man from the military, armed with an Automatic Gun got out of his jeep, he stopped Kelly and said: "Stop young lady right there, identify yourself."

The man kept the weapon aimed at her because he seemingly didn't trust her, Kelly raised her arms, trying to prove she meant no harm and said: "Please don't shoot, I'm an American citizen and I'm in deep trouble you've got to help me. Sadly I have no documents to identify myself because the people that kidnapped me took them away from me but my name is Kelly Gibbs. My Father is Leroy Jethro Gibbs who should probably be working still for the government, please call him." While the two were talking the people that had kidnapped Kelly arrived with a jeep and before they reached them, the Border Patrol man Jason Parker pushed Kelly in the direction of the car and said: "Get in the car!" Kelly did as she was told as quickly as she could Jason opened fire on the jeep and tried his best to keep them back a little. When the gunman in the jeep got out the rocket launcher, Jason quickly to his car switched on the engine and drove away. But the gunman had launched the rocket anyway and now it was in very close pursuit to the jeep, Jason quickly grabbed his radio and practically screamed through it: "Patrol 1 to Hell raiser, I need air support right now, hostiles sighted at the border."

_AN: Thanks to- mjan for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, thanks to- DS 2010 for adding this story to her/ his story alert subscription, thanks to- Gabby Girl 184 for adding this story to her story alert subscription and reviewing this story. Thanks to- starwars2001 for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, thanks to- cheether for reviewing the story, thanks to- fart fart for reviewing this story._


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

_NCIS Headquarters, Interrogation Room_

Tony and Ziva finally brought the shackled gunman into interrogation, so Gibbs could maybe crack him and get some useful information out of him. But the one surviving attacker seemed a little harder to crack than Gibbs had expected, after he hadn't bugged a bit when Gibbs was taking it easy on him in the beginning. With one unexpected move, Gibbs finally got to know the things he wanted to from the gunman: after he had thrown away the table that stood between them, drove the chair the gunman was sitting on to the wall behind him and nearly had choked the live out of the man, the gunman gave up and said: "Ok fine I give up." Gibbs finally let go of his throat, the gunman tried his best to soak in as much fresh air as he could before he finally spoke:

"We were in that apartment because we were searching for Harris, Harris screwed over my boss big time and had given me the order to find him, take him out and recover the cash he had stolen from the cartel and that's all I know!"

"About how much money are we talking about?" Gibbs then demanded to know from the gunman and was really curious to where this case was going to lead him.

"About three Million Dollars." The gunman said non-chalantly, then Gibbs got up from his seat, opened the door and told the men that were waiting in front of the door to take the gunman away.

_NCIS Headquarters, Bullpen_

When Gibbs finally returned to the office he asked Tony to put a bolo out on Walter Harris and ordered Ziva to find out, who was leading the Salasar Drug Cartel these days. When he finally returned to desk, he took two big sips of his coffee and thought about the next steps to take in this case, that was really getting more and more complicated as he and his team continued to put the pieces of this very big puzzle together.

_A few miles away from the Mexican/American Border_

The rocket was still in close pursuit of the military jeep with Kelly and Jason Parker, the Border patrol guy that had picked her up where sitting inside. "Damn it, I can't get away from the Rocket, where the hell is the air support?" Jason said into his radio and the guy on the other end ensured him that the helicopter had almost reached their position and he just needed to hang in a little while there. But as the air support had almost put the attacking jeep of the Salasar Drug Cartel into his crossfire, the rocket hit the jeep with full force and that caused the military jeep to fly like a ball through the air. The air support finally reached their position and fired to rockets of their own at the jeep and got the attackers car destroyed immediately.

The helicopter then landed near the exploded jeep, one soldier and one medic got quickly out of it and ran to the exploded jeep. The medic and the soldier got out the border patrol guy first but sadly Jason Parker had immediately died after the big crash, but then the medic spotted Kelly laying smeared with her one blood on the seat directly next to the driver and then screamed to his comrade, who had been already back on the way to the chopper: "The girl still lives, we've got to take her with us to Fort Bell, so I can help her there properly." The two got them back into to the chopper, where the medic immediately hooked her to the machines in the chopper and his best to stabilize the medical condition the girl was in right now. A few hours later, the doctors in the hospital in Fort Bell fully stabilized her condition and Doctor Andrews, the chief medical officer even said that she would wake up in a few hours.

To the commander of Fort Bell, General Mark Peterson this whole thing was still a very big mystery to him but maybe that young lady could give him the answers he was looking for when she would finally wake up. While Kelly was not awake, Doctor Andrews had been ordered by General Peterson to take a DNA sample from the girl so they could identify her. Andrews did as he was told with a new faster DNA test method and was really amazed and at the same time shocked by the result he got on the computer screen at his lab: the girl that was laying in the hospital ward of Fort Bell right now was the daughter of an government agent that was supposed to be dead since almost seventeen years now: Kelly Gibbs. But how was that possible? The whole thing was freeking Doctor Andrews a little bit out now and he hopped that Kelly Gibbs would have some answers to all of these weird things when she finally woke up.

_NCIS Headquarters, Washington DC_

"Boss, Metro PD has found Harris the bad news: He's dead! It looks like the Salasar Cartel got him first and did what they intended to do in the first place." Ziva said to Gibbs, who then got up from his desk and said: "Mc Gee you with me, Ziva, Dinozzo try to track down the hit men who took out Harris." Mc Gee got his weapon and the other stuff out of his desk and quickly followed his boss into the elevator.

_Fort Bell, Near the Mexican/ American Border_

Kelly Gibbs finally woke up and wondered where she was, to the first she said in the room, who appeared to be a doctor she said: "Where am I and how did get here?" The doctor quickly paged Doctor Andrews notifying him of the fact, that his patient was finally awake and then said: "You're at Fort Bell a military installation a few miles away from the Mexican/American Border and you've been brought by our air support here." Finally Doctor Andrews arrived in the room and said: "Glad to see you finally awake, can you please tell how you have got into a car of one our border patrol man and who the men where, that destroyed one of our vehicles?"

"My name is Kelly Gibbs, the men who destroyed your vehicle where from the Salasar Drug Cartel and had kidnapped me seventeen years ago. I don't know how, but they even swapped my body with another girl that looked exactly like me and put my DNA at the crime scene so everybody would think I have died but instead they wanted to smuggle into east Europe selling me to the highest bitter. "

Clearly Doctor Andrews was amazed by all of this, Kelly asked for the opportunity to talk to her dad but Andrews said that was not his decision to make and he first had to talk to his supervisor. Doctor Andrews then immediately went to Peterson and told him this whole very heartbreaking story and Kelly's wish to talk to her dad. Peterson didn't have to think long about that request and said: "Get her to my office; I'm certainly going to grant her that wish." A little while later Kelly arrived at Peterson's office, still not fully recovered from the accident but the healing process went better in her case as Doctor Andrews had expected.

They finally found Kelly's dad in the military personnel database; Peterson called the number of NCIS right away and finally someone at the other end said: Hello this very Special Agent Tony Dinozzo what can I do for you?"

"Agent Dinozzo, this is General Peterson from Fort Bell, I need to reach Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs and it's very important."

"I'll put you through to Agent Gibbs one moment please." Tony put this whole thing on halt for a moment, and then dialed Gibbs cell number, because he was still in the field with Mc Gee and really hoped that Gibbs would pick it up. Finally after a couple of minutes Gibbs had finally managed to pick up his cell phone: "This is Gibbs, what is Tony? It better be important!"

"It is Boss, I have General Pearson from Fort Bell for you on the line waiting, he asked to speak to you personally about something really important."

"Put him through Dinozzo."

"Ok right away boss."

_Norfolk_

"Special Agent Gibbs here, what can I do for you General?"

"Agent Gibbs, directly next to me stands someone you should now really well and that person wants to speak to you. I know the following things I'm going to tell you, are going to be very hard to believe at first, I totally understand because I felt the same way at first but you've got to listen to me till the end." Gibbs then listened to the whole story and really didn't know what to say or even think about this whole thing, only one thought came to his mind right now: *How the hell was that possible?* It took quite a while but as he had finally collected himself again he asked General Peterson to put Kelly in the next chopper and fly her to her Washington.

Without any hesitation the General said that he would take of all the necessary arrangements and then Kelly and Gibbs spoke for a few minutes: "Dad I miss you so much, I can't wait to finally see you again." On the other end of the line Gibbs was struggling a little with tears falling down his cheeks and with an almost hoarse voice he said: "I miss you too sweetie, I can't describe how happy I am right now to have you back in my life."

_AN: thanks to- fart fart for reviewing this story, thanks to- Power 214063 for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, thanks to-DS 2010 for reviewing this story, thanks to-foreign music lyrics for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, thanks to- stargatesg1973 for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, thanks to- flissy fish for adding this story to her story alert subscription, thanks to- cheether for adding this story to her story alert subscription and reviewing this story, thanks to-NCISMashmegafan for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription and reviewing the story, thanks to- fina- percabeth fan for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription adding it to her/his favorite stories list, thanks to- davies Claire for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, thanks to- Karen 19 for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list._

_I hope you like this chapter, please read and review_


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

_Norfolk_

Gibbs finally hung up the phone and was still a little shaken up because of what had occurred a few minutes ago. Mc Gee asked Gibbs, who was still somewhere else with his thoughts: "You ok Gibbs?" Gibbs collected himself again and then said: "Yes I'm fine Mc Gee, thanks for asking, I just received some unexpected news a few minutes ago: My daughter is alive."

Mc Gee totally understood why her boss was so besides himself because of that, she would be definitely also feeling the same way and finally said: "That's great news Gibbs." The two then continued their investigation, gathering some more witness statements not far away to the crime scene and tried their best to collect as much information out on the scene as possible. Most of the people that had noticed the little shootout in the middle of Norfolk, said that it all went very fast and the men, who killed Harris where masked.

Unfortunately that meant that their investigation had ran right into a dead end at the moment, Gibbs and Mc Gee then recovered all the evidence from the crime scene, so that they maybe could reconstruct what happened exactly back at the NCIS Headquarters.

_Meanwhile at Fort Bell_

Kelly was on the way to the chopper landing on the roof; where already a ready to take off chopper was waiting to her pick her up. Kelly was so happy, that she would finally get to see her dad again after all these years. Surely it would be difficult for her to get used to a "normal life" again but she was confident that the support of her dad would get her through this very difficult time. A few Minutes later the chopper finally took off from the ground with Kelly sitting inside and now she was on the way to Washington, her new and old home, the city she hadn't seen for a very long time. Sitting in the chopper, looking down to the big hills directly under her she asked herself, if her dad had married again after marrying her mom Shannon and if he was still married today.

Did his dad have any children with the women after mom? So many questions popped up in her head but then she decided to rest during this whole very long flight that lay ahead of her, because she wanted to be totally fit when she and her dad where meeting face to face in Washington DC.

_NCIS Headquarters, Washington DC_

Back at the NCIS Office after nearly two hours without any helpful clues, Ziva got up from her desk and said to Tony triumphantly: "We finally have a breakthrough, according to a report of the Police Station Norfolk West; an older gentleman has spotted a suspicious grey van parking at a empty office building. "

Tony thought about all this a moment and then said:" Ok, I' m calling Gibbs, because he and Mc Gee are still in Norfolk." While Tony started to dial Mc Gee's cell phone number, Ziva wrote down the address of the old empty office building and handed it to Tony. He finally got Mc Gee on the phone, Tim quickly wrote down the address and then Tony hung up. The next two hours were filled with a lot of looking at surveillance tapes and maybe even get a bit in the head of a high profile criminal with nothing to lose.

Gibbs and Mc Gee had finally finished collecting all the witness statements and evidence on the crime scene and where now on the way back to the Navy Yard. The whole drive back to NCIS Headquarters, the only thing Gibbs could think about was his daughter. All these years were so much painful for him, because he had seen what he had thought to be the dead body of her laying in a casket and now everything was upside down. How had Kelly survived that coward attack on this tragic day seventeen years ago? So many that were unanswered right now, that it almost gave Jethro a headache. He tried his best to keep his thoughts collected during the left time of the drive back to the office, because he still had one heck of a complicated case to solve. Mc Gee finally parked the car into the garage at NCIS and both then got to the elevator, which would take them back to the main office. Back in Norfolk Gibbs had asked the police chief at Norfolk to bring the van to NCIS when they were done with it. It didn't get by Tony and Ziva unnoticed that Gibbs seemed a little distracted when he had finally reentered the office, Tony first wanted to ask him what's wrong, but Mc Gee signaled him with his hands that now really wasn't the time for this. This whole odd behavior got Tony thinking: Maybe Gibbs had received some bad news? Or maybe even some good news, but of one kind that came a little unexpected to him?

Tony put that thoughts to rest for now, Gibbs would probably tell them when he thought that the time was right and they still had to focus on solving this complicated case. Later Tony brought another important witness for questioning, which could also provide some very valuable information to them. Mc Gee find another important lead in the bank account of one buddy of the Navy from Pete Walker, who also seemed to have good connections to the Salasar drug cartel but had the financial transfers covered a little better then Walker. Right away Gibbs ordered to get a search warrant for Sargent Mc Neals house in DC and hoped that this time his team was getting first to Mc Neal before The Salasar cartel could get rid of another accomplice. Then the doors of the elevator opened, Gibbs got up out of his seat and as he saw who had finally arrived in DC, tears of pure joy streamed down his face for a moment. He quickly wiped them away the best he could, Kelly then walked up to him also crying out of pure joy and really didn't know what to say right now.

For a couple of minutes Gibbs just forgot everything around him and tightly hugged his daughter. Gibbs begged that all this wasn't a dream he would wake out from at the any minute, because it felt just so good to hold his only daughter in his arms after all these years, he had thought that he had lost her forever. Ziva, Tony and Mc Gee provided them their private space for the time being, just focused on their work but they all shared one thought with each other: They were really happy for Gibbs to have his daughter back. Finally the two had collected themselves again Gibbs for the first to speak: "You're all grown up now." Kelly as her dad still didn't know what to say, so Kelly just timidly smiled at him.

But then the two finally stepped nearer to the desks of Mc Gee, Ziva and Tony. Gibbs then said: "Tony, Ziva and Mc Gee this is wonderful daughter Kelly." One by one Ziva, Mc Gee and Tony introduced themselves to Kelly before Gibbs ushered them back to their desks to work again.

"Now I'm giving you a little tour around place, I've been working at for the last couple of years." Gibbs said and then with his daughter in tow, he stepped into the elevator and then headed to their first station downstairs: Abby's lab. Loud music was blaring out of a little stereo on a little table when Kelly and her father entered the lab of the Goth scientist. Abby was totally somewhere else with her thoughts that she didn't notice Kelly sneaking up behind her back and said in a deep voice: "Abbs, what do you got for me?" Abbs turned around pretended to wipe sweat away from her forehead and said to a now laughing Gibbs: "That was scary Gibbs, who's our visitor?"

"Abby, meet my daughter Kelly."

Abby now also brightly smiled and said: "Nice to meet you and you did a great job imitating him." The two girls then hugged tightly and Kelly really liked the warm welcome by the Goth. The three kept on for a while more and then they finally parted ways and Gibbs and his daughter moved on to the Autopsy.

_AN: Thanks to- fart fart for reviewing the story, thanks to- Olivia 15 for adding this story to her favorite stories list, thanks to- andrewjeeves for adding this story to his favorite stories list, thanks to-Kamakashi (I'm also from Germany, it's nice to see that I'm not only one here on ) for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, thanks to- Kelly Gibbs 03 for reviewing the story and adding it to her Story Alert Subscription, thanks to- NCIS Fan 208 for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, thanks to- rmcfox for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, thanks to- ray 1 for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, thanks to- shadow girl 27 for adding this story to her story alert subscription, thanks to- Fina percabeth fan (and her/his mom) for reviewing the story. I Hope you like this chapter, please read and review_


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

_NCIS Headquarters, Washington DC_

In a very happy mood, still grinning a little bit because of Kelly's imitation of him, Gibbs said when he entered the Autopsy: „"Ducky, what do you got for me?" Ducky turned his focus away from the body for a moment to face Gibbs and said: "A more thorough examination of Lt Walker's body resulted in finding DNA from the attacker under his fingernails and I also found several tiny pieces of glass in the victim's head. Who is the young the lady you have in tow Jethro? "Ducky added and then patiently waited for Gibbs answer.

"Ducky please meet my daughter Kelly." Jethro answered and still couldn't really believe that his daughter was standing next to him right at this moment. When he had the time for it, he surely would want to know the whole story from Kelly, why she was alive and not dead as he had assumed all these days. He never had been somebody believing in destiny for the years of life but now he started to believe in the fact, that destiny was really on his sight and he hopped that it would stay that way. A good friend and a very loved wife had been taken away from him but in exchange, his wonderful daughter Kelly was back in his life and that brought one feeling back, that there hadn't been much space for in his heart: Joy.

"Nice to finally see you face to face Kelly, I'm Ducky." Ducky finally said, so there wouldn't be an uncomfortable silence in the room. Ducky was surely amazed by seeing Gibbs Daughter standing right here in the autopsy, but surely Kelly would explain all when her dad would have enough time to listen to his daughter's story. With his daughter in tow Gibbs finally left autopsy and in the aisle Mc Gee was already waiting for him: "Boss, I checked the Alibi of Miss Walker, she was at home this time, her brother David Walker can verify that because they had a longer telephone conversation, at the time Pete Walker was killed."

"Any News on Mc Neal's whereabouts?"

"Not yet, but I put a bolo on Mc Neal and as soon as something turns up, you will be the first know to know Boss." Mc Gee answered and then he went back upstairs to get back to his work. Gibbs then turned around to face his daughter and said: "I think we two deserve some time alone now, I'm really dying to know how you happen to be alive after I thought for all these years, that I have lost you and your mother forever." Kelly agreed on that point with her dad and said: "Sounds good, but I don't want you to get In trouble with your boss in any way. Oh and before I forget: Why are they all calling you either by your last name or just Boss? That seemed all so weird to me the whole time dad." Gibbs smiled at her brightly and said: "I didn't order them to call me Boss, they just did it on their own, I believe they either do it out of respect for me and in Dinozzo's case because he's a little bit afraid of me." The two then got back in the elevator, Gibbs handed over command to Tony and then he left the NCIS building together with Kelly.

_Outside NCIS Headquarters, Washington DC_

Gibbs and Kelly were now in the parking lot just outside the NCIS Headquarters and passed by all the cars from numerous NCIS employees until they reached Gibbs private car a yellow older Dodge model that Gibbs had restored to old glory a few years ago, instead of building another boot in his basement. Kelly looked at the car for quite a while and then said: "Wow, the car looks very cool! Where did you get it?"

"I rescued it from the dumpster, this whole car was a total wreckage when I got it but with a lot of work I finally got it smoothly again." He opened the door for his daughter, kissed her softly on her forehead and didn't really know right when exactly the last time was he had felt so happy. With a loud roar Gibbs got the ignition of the old Dodge running and then they drove away.

After a ten minute drive, where Kelly had told her father the whole story of her surviving on that tragic day almost seventeen years ago they finally had reached Gibbs house. It had been very hard for Gibbs not to cry, because he was such so an emotional person again now and right now he didn't know what to make of that fact. The two got out of the car, after Gibbs had parked it in that thing that some sort of a "garage". For a brief moment Kelly intertwined her hand with her dad, as she could sense the anxiety from her dad when they had reached the doorstep. Gibbs just caressed her cheek for a moment in response to thank her for the support she was giving him right at this moment, took a deep breath and then opened the door to the house, that would become their home again. Today would be the first time in many years, he would enter Kelly's room again with a now all grown up daughter on his side to support him all the way and he was really thankful for that.

Gibbs would surely do his very best to get Kelly used again to a normal life, after all these years she had suffered emotional and psychical pain. The two then first sat down in the living room and Gibbs then asked Kelly:" You must be very hungry, I'm going to make you something warm in the microwave from my leftover meal from yesterday, I hope you still like to eat Lasagna?"

"Yes that sounds great dad, I love you for still knowing my favorite meal after all these years." Kelly answered and brightly smiled at her dad what made Jethro a very proud father got him smiling brightly too and then he said: "I Love you sweetie." After he put her meal first in the microwave, he both made them a hot chocolate and Kelly thanked him for it, as her dad put it down in front of her on the couch table.

_AN: Thanks to- kishe for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription and for reviewing the story, thanks to- fart fart for reviewing the story, thanks to- tomboy 4997 for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription and for adding it to her/his favorite stories list, thanks to hotchocolatestar 99 for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, thanks to- gabby girl 184 for reviewing this story, thanks to- DS 2010 for reviewing this story. _

_I hope you like this chapter, please read and review _


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

At Gibbs house, he and his daughter were still enjoying their respective hot chocolates and he filled her in on all the things that had happened in the last years. Maybe it was a little early, but with Christmas not so far away anymore deep down in his mind, Gibbs was already starting to make plans for the upcoming holiday. In his mind he flashed back to a the last Christmas he had spent with Shannon and Kelly, so much time had passed since then but Jethro still remembered every little detail of it like it had been yesterday.

Then Gibbs cellphone rang, that had been lying on the couch table in front of him since he and his daughter had arrived at home: "Gibbs here."

"Sorry to disturb you Boss, Mc Gee and Ziva were at Mc Neal's house but nobody was home. It seems that Mc Neal already knew, that the Salasar Cartel was on to him and so he left his place in a hurry." Dinozzo said and then waited for the response from the silver haired fox, which had been Abby's favorite Nickname for Gibbs. Jethro thought about a moment, what the next step should be to take and finally ordered Dinzzo to extend the bolo to all the neighboring states of Washington DC and that he would be back at the office shortly. Gibbs sighed and said: "Sorry Sweetie, duty calls I have to get back to the office but call me on this number anytime you want." He took a piece of paper from then couch table, wrote his office phone number on it and then handed the note to his daughter. Kelly kissed her father on the right cheek, then Gibbs decided to get the TV out of the basement, placed provisional on an old nightstand and connected it back to the electricity.

Then Gibbs finally left the house, with a bad feeling in his stomach because he was really afraid that the Salasar Cartel would still try to get to his daughter. When he finally got into his car and made his way back to NCIS Headquarters, he dialed a number of a person he hadn't spoken to in while: Hollis Man a former girlfriend of him, a woman he had loved for a while but in the end he had realized, that this whole thing couldn't work between them because Gibbs had just tried to replace a woman in his life that couldn't be replaced by anyone: his first wife Shannon. After a couple of rings, Man finally picked up the phone and said: "Hello Jethro, nice to hear from you again. What's the reason you calling me at this late time of the day?"

"My daughter, she has returned into my life after all these years I thought she was dead. All these years she has been held captive by the second biggest Drug Cartel in Mexico the Salasars, that are probably still after her. Would you please make sure nothing happens to her while I am at work?" Without much hesitation Man said: "Sure Jethro that's no problem for me."

"Thank you Hollis, I really appreciate that." Gibbs answered, hung up the phone and then fully concentrated on driving again. He was really happy that the relationship between him and Hollis had ended in a good way and they were still friends, even if they hadn't talked so much after the end of their short relationship.

_NCIS Headquarters, Bullpen, _

Finally Gibbs entered the big main office again, and shortly after he had reached his desk he asked his team: "What do you got for me?" Mc Gee was the first to get up from his desk grabbed the remote for the big plasma screen in the middle of the office and said: "Seems like Mc Neal's escape from Norfolk has been planned in advance, because me and Ziva didn't found anything of Mc Neal's personal belongings in it anymore and two days ago he emptied his whole bank account in Norfolk, I talked to the Manager of the Bank in Norfolk and he said that Mc Neal was being totally nervous all the time, like somebody was after him."

"Gibbs you've got to see this." Ziva blurted out, after finding a very important lead in their case. Mc Gee handed her the remote and then the former Mossad Officer said: "This picture is just a few minutes old, it's from a surveillance cam outside of a Bank Minnesota, and it seems the Salasar Cartel is already on his tail." Gibbs looked at the picture and saw the black jeep that kept on tailing the car of Mc Neal the whole time. Then he said: "Ziva you with me, we need to get to Mc Neal before he falls in the hands of the Salasar Cartel."

Back Gibbs house Hollis Man finally arrived and gently knocked on the door. When Kelly finally opened it, she not opened the door the full way and asked instead: "Who are you?"

"Hi Kelly, I'm Hollis Man a good friend of your father and he has asked me to take care of you while he's at work." Kelly smiled opened the door the whole way, invited Hollis and said: "Hi Hollis, my dad has told me a lot about you and I'm glad to have some company." Kelly then closed the door behind them, the two then sat down in the living room on the couch and while Kelly was continuing to eat her meal and watch some TV at the same time, Hollis made herself a hot chocolate in the kitchen to get herself warm again because it was really freezing cold outside in the autumn this year.

_Minnesota_

In a joint investigation with the police department in Minnesota, in which NCIS took the lead after a call from Director Vance to the Police Chief in the city, who was willing to do everything in the first place to make this whole investigation his own, what had resulted in a verbal conflict between the police chief and Gibbs. Finally they had tracked down Mc Neal in a little café, just a few blocks away from the bank that caught him and the tailing car on camera and were now observing the scenery before they would finally make their move. A few minutes later Mc Neal stepped outside of the Café and right at that same moment, one of the guys from the salasar cartel got out of the car and marched right into the direction of Mc Neal, raising his weapon as he was in shooting range. Gibbs and Ziva realized their time to move in was now, so they quickly got to the other side of the street and after they both had identified themselves as Federal Agents Gibbs said: "Put the weapon down on the ground NOW! " Without hesitating much, Gibbs shot the one masked man right in his leg and as the men of the SWAT Team now also moved in, the one man realized he had lost and tried to take care of the business he was paid for but before that, a sniper from the Swat Team took the man down.

The other man in the jeep now quickly drove away before the Swat Team could get to him and after that they also apprehended Mc Neal as he tried to flee the scene.

_AN: Thanks to- fart fart for reviewing the story, thanks to- Kelly Gibbs 03 for reviewing the story, thanks to- DS 2010 for reviewing the story, thanks to- Maureen Mooney for adding this story to her story alert subscription, thanks to- Hotchocolate star 99 for reviewing this story, thanks to- Destiny Faith Angel for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list._

_I hope you like this chapter, please read and review_


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

_Minnesota_

In handcuffs Gibbs and Ziva then took Mc Neal back to their car and then drove back to the police office with their police escort right behind them. Gibbs thought a lot about Kelly on the way back to the Sherrif's office and was really glad, that Hollis had the time to make sure that his daughter was safe, while he had to solve this complicated case. After driving almost ten minutes through the city they reached their final destination and got their cars parked in front of the sheriff's office.

Jethro then opened the door in the back of the blue dodge, dragged out Mc Neal out of the car and really hopped that he could get this whole thing done very quickly.

Inside the Sherrif's office Gibbs immediately escorted Mc Neal to the interrogation room and as he had finally closed the door behind them he said: "Sit down. I'm going to make this easy for you; if you tell us everything you know about the Salasar Cartel Sargent, we will protect you. If you choose to not corporate with, I'm afraid we have to do this the hard way and I will make sure myself that you will be punished very hard: NO DEALS!" Mc Neal looked at Jethro very nervous now, because he knew that the man sitting in front of him wasn't joking one bit. Sargent Mc Neal took one deep breath and finally realized he had to trust the NCIS Special, had to tell all he know now because on his own he wouldn't last very long against a very mighty opponent like the Salasar Drug Cartel was. "Ok Agent Gibbs I'll tell you everything now, but you got to promise one thing: you've got rescue my daughter out of the hands of the Salsar's , they took them from me after they realized they couldn't trust me anymore. The Salsar s are not only involved in dealing with drugs, they also do human trafficking, have bought their way into high power positions in the Mexican Government and also planning now to do the same here in the US. After they realized Pete, I mean Lt Walker was another traitor in the organization they forced me to prove myself trustworthy or my daughter would be killed and I had to watch her execution.

I killed Pete Walker, and believe that was the difficult decision I have ever had to make in my whole life Agent Gibbs. With their trust now earned back, I secretly planned to get my daughter out of there but I believe the Cartel had expected that and I had to abandon my daughter in the middle of nowhere or else I wouldn't have made back alive to US soil. The last thing that I know is that the Salasar's a planning a big attack here in the US, I really don't know the target but it's going down in the next two weeks. "

Gibbs thought a moment about all the things that he had heard from Mc Neal and believed everything he said because all signs that Mc Neal's body transmitted said he was really a man that was genuinely concerned for the well-being of his daughter and surely wasn't looking to save his own ass by covering up for somebody else. Mc Neal on the other hand, who had seemed like a very tough guy to Gibbs, had now a few tears streaming down his face: "Please Agent Gibbs, please find my daughter I don't know if I could ever forgive myself If I lose her."

"We will find her Sargent, I promise." Gibbs said and handed him a Kleenex out of the little blue box that stood on the steel table in the interrogation room at the Sherrif's office.

_Gibbs House, Washington DC_

Meanwhile Hollis and Kelly really had a good time together, the two ladies talked a lot about the time Hollis and Gibbs had been dating and Man even admitted that she deep down still loved Gibbs a little bit but didn't know right now, if she could really find it in her heart to give him a second chance. Kelly totally understood that, because she knew that her father was and still is a very complicated person and that surely was hard for Hollis to get through the emotional wall, which Gibbs had built around his heart in the last years.

Kelly really hoped that all that would change now and then maybe Hollis and her dad could even get back together because Kelly really thought after all she knew about Hollis now, that her dad and Hollis would really make a great couple. With Christmas around the corner, Kelly had a great Idea popping up in her mind: She would invite Hollis over to spend Christmas with her and her dad, maybe this way the two would get closer to each other again. Later that night Hollis drove with Kelly to the NCIS Headquarters to see if Jethro has yet returned out from the field and she was a little bit nervous seeing Gibbs face to face this evening for the first time again in a couple of years.

_NCIS Headquarters, Washington DC_

After having located Mc Neals daughter being held captive in truck, that was on the way to Canada and successfully apprehending all involved Members of the Salasar Cartel, Gibbs and Ziva now finally had returned to the office in DC. Gibbs was really happy that the case was finally closed and was now looking forward getting home and spend more time with his daughter. After he had finally packed up all his stuff, two very familiar persons came out of the elevator: his daughter with his former girlfriend Army CID LT Hollis Mann in tow.

Gibbs smiled brightly as he saw that two women waiting for him at the elevator walked up to them and said: "Nice to see you two picking me up from work." Gibbs kissed his daughter and Hollis on the right cheek and then the trio finally made their way out of the building.

As Ziva, Tony and Mc Gee finally came out of the building, after Hollis got back in her car and Kelly climbed into his old Dodge: "Hey, you three you want to come with us drinking something together in a nice little bar in DC?" Ziva, Mc Gee and Tony were so surprised by the offer of Gibbs that none of them did know what to say at first but then Tony finally answered: "Yes that would be great Boss." The other two also agreed to come along so all of them finally made their way to the bar in DC for a nice little drink together after a hard work day.

_AN: Thanks to- fart fart for reviewing this chapter, thanks to- Gabby Girl 84 for reviewing the story, thanks to- hotchocolate star 99 for reviewing the story, thanks to Laurence 0311 for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, thanks to- cheether for reviewing this story, thanks to- Miss Mushy for adding this story to her story alert subscription._

_I hope you like this chapter, please read and review_


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

Gibbs, his team, his daughter and Hollis Man had a really good time together, to the big surprise of his team Gibbs even laughed a lot and being all nice, paying for all the drinks. Surely it would take some time for his team to get used to the "new Gibbs" but they were all very happy for him and really enjoyed this time they spend together this evening. As it was getting late, one by one of Gibbs team said goodbye because they were tired or they had some other plans for later this night in Tony's case, till only Hollis, Gibbs and his daughter were left on the big table near the window of the nice comfy bar in the middle of DC.

Then finally Gibbs, Kelly and Hollis left the bar an hour later. As the two were standing in front of their own cars, an awkward silence hang in the air between them, both of them not knowing for a moment what to say. Instead of saying anything Hollis slowly stepped nearer and nearer to Gibbs, the man she still loved deep down so much but was he still feeling the same way about her? Finally the two were standing just a few inches away from each other, just staring into each other's eyes for a couple of minutes. Then Hollis finally closed the distance between them, kissing a very surprised Gibbs directly on the mouth with all her heart. Gibbs hesitated for a moment, because he didn't know if he really wanted it but with all doubts finally being pushed out of his thoughts, he kissed her back with a lot of passion. Kelly smiled as she was leaning against her dad's car in the background watching this whole scene unfold in front of her and was really happy, that the first phase of her "little plan" had worked. The two then pulled away from each other, Hollis kissed Gibbs one last time shortly on his mouth and said: "Good night Jethro, bye Kelly." They smiled at each other before finally getting into their cars and Gibbs really still was on cloud nine at this very moment.

In a comfortable silence father and daughter then made their way back home, he was happy that he still had left the room of his daughter the same she left it because he couldn't get rid of those things, even if it surely was painful to know in the first place that there was the room, where his little princess had slept in upstairs. Since that tragic day, where some filthy drug dealer had taken away his wife from him, Gibbs had never entered one of the rooms on the second floor of his house, because he knew he would probably be overwhelmed with grief if he would ever look at the bedroom he had shared with his first wife Shannon again.

But maybe with his daughter back in his life, he would be able to put some of that grief behind him and be a father again for his wonderful daughter. Was he still maybe in love with Hollis or was this all just one sided, so was she the only one that still had romantic feelings for him? He had to ask himself if he even was willing to give this thing him and Hollis another try. He then decided to put those thoughts to rest for now and instead said to his daughter: "Good night sweetie, I love you." He softly kissed her on her forehead and brightly smiled at her.

"I love you too Dad and I wish you too a good night." Kelly then went upstairs and still knew all the way to her room on the first floor of the house and had been surely amazed at first as her dad had told her, that he had left her room in this house in the way she had left it the last time a couple of years ago, when her mother had still lived and her mom and dad had been happy together. Kelly then got herself ready for bed in the bathroom upstairs and reflected on the nice evening she had with Hollis, his dad's former girlfriend and his dad's colleagues.

Meanwhile Tony being on another student party on this night really wondered, if Gibbs was Gibbs anymore when he was being all nice to them but he was happy when his boss was happy and Gibbs surely hadn't been that happy for a very long time now. Maybe he was the only but Tony had sensed that spark between his boss and Hollis Man the whole evening, where the two might be getting back together or was he just imagining things now?

Before he finally went to sleep, Gibbs walked into his daughter's room, silently walked up to her bed and softly kissed her on her forehead without waking her.

_The next day_

Kelly was up very early, and, while her dad was still sleeping she decided to make breakfast for them both before he had to go to work this morning. She made some coffee for dad just the way he liked it with the coffee machine she found in the kitchen, that seemed to be used ten years ago the last time and then placed dishes on the table and made the bread ready for eating.

As Gibbs finally woke up out of his sleep at seven o'clock in the morning, he was surprised to see his daughter already up sitting on one side of the kitchen table. Finally he then said: "Wow, this all looks really great, you just got up early to make your old dad some breakfast sweetie?" Kelly laughed at this comment from her dad and said: "Yes I did, sit down or your coffee gets cold." Gibbs smiled back at her and said: "Yes ma'am will do!" That comment got Kelly laughing in the middle of eating so nearly choked on a piece of bread. When she had successfully swallowed that piece down she was grinning at her dad widely and they both started laughing. Gibbs decided to take Kelly along to work, because he was still worried about her safety a a lot, so after Kelly was finally ready to go the two got into Gibbs car and made their way to NCIS Headquarters in DC.

_NCIS Headquarters, Bullpen_

To the surprise of all the team members in the room right now, instead of Gibbs coming through the door it was his daughter Kelly. Tony flirty smiled at her and got Kelly to put on her best face that practically said: *If looks could kill*. Tony got a little scared by that look because that reminded him a lot of Gibbs and quickly went back to look at his computer screen and pretended to work on something important.

"Hey everybody, I was down the street at the Starbucks and you all look so much tired, so I got you all a coffee." Kelly said and earned some very surprised looks from Ziva, Tony and Mc Gee at first but all thanked her for the coffee.

_AN: Thanks to- fart fart for reviewing this story, thanks to-Brittany 009 for adding this story to her favorite stories list, thanks to- hotchocolate star 99 for reviewing this story, thanks to-ACW 13 for adding this story to her story alert subscription, thanks to- gabby girl 84 for reviewing this story. I hope you like this chapter, please read and review_


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10

Her dad and his team finally had a new case going: A dead marine in Ronaoke Park. Kelly didn't want to sit around the whole time so she went down upstairs with the elevator to get to Abby's lab and really hoped that the goth didn't have anything against some company in the big room with all that High tech equipment around her. Kelly had loved the goth right from the first meeting on yesterday, because she was such a sweet and talkative person and judging the way her dad had talked about Abby made her really think that he taught of the black haired goth as a second daughter, since her and Gibbs had started working with each other a couple of years ago.

She finally entered Abby's lab and said: "Hi Abbs, what's up?" Abby turned the loud blaring music from her stereo down a little bit so she could understand better, turned around, smiled at her bright and said: "Hi Kelly, nice to see you down here and at the moment I'm only listening to music, waiting for the silver haired fox to give some work to do."

Kelly laughed at the mention of Abby's nickname for her father and then said: "I really think my dad should adopt you because I really would love to have you as my sister Abby." The goth's smile got even wider because of that comment and then she replied: "That's a cool idea, I'm going to ask him about that when he gets back from the field." The girls kept on talking for a while and totally began to forget time and everything happen around them. An hour later Gibbs finally came back from the field and wondered where his daughter was, as he was not seeing her sitting at his desk where she had been sitting when he had left to go out into the field. Gibbs then went downstairs, first stopping at the autopsy, Ducky had found DNA under the finger nails of Commander Laura Walsh that definitely belonged to the person that attacked her and also a strange residue on her left hand. First Ducky wanted to send his assistant Palmer to get these to Abby but then Gibbs said that he would take it because he wanted to stop by Abby's lab anyway.

Jethro then finally stepped into Abby's lab, brightly smiling and he saw his daughter and the goth chatting and laughing a lot. He silently sneaked up behind them and said: "Nice to see you two getting along so well. Surely Abbs I didn't come with empty hands I need you to run this DNA sample through the known databases and find out what strange residue Ducky has found on Commander Walsh's body." After he had put the work on the table, he also set down the Caff Pow for Abby on it and gave the two girls a quick kiss on their foreheads before finally leaving the lab.

The two girls smiled at each other brightly and then Kelly said: "Ok I let you get to work now Abbs, see you later."

"See you later Kelly." Abbs said, nipped on her caff pow and then got her work for Gibbs done. Kelly then finally got back upstairs to join her father and the team in the office. With a big grin on her face she said to her father: "I think you should adopt Abby, I would really like to have her as my sister." Gibbs returned the grin and replied jokingly: "Considered it done sweetie." The two laughed because of that little silly behavior of them but then Gibbs finally returned back to his work and said: "Dinozzo what do you got for me?"

"Spoke to Laura Walsh's Co and he said, that Walsh had a confrontation with a crewman of the USS Parker, it seems like the two had an affair for quite a while but Walsh abruptly ended when her secret got out an threatened her career at this time." Tony said and that got the wheels in Gibbs head spinning a lot, maybe they had already found their first suspect in this case. Then he asked Tony: "What's the name of the crewman?"

"Lt Frederick Pearson has a criminal record from his pre- navy time for example for assault and sexual harassment." The Italian Special Agent replied to his boss and pulled up the photo of Pearson and the criminal record on the big screen in the middle of the office.

"The USS Parker is docked right now in the Harbor of Norfolk Boss."

"Dinozzo you and Ziva get down to the Norfolk Harbor and talk to Pearson, find out if he's maybe hiding something." Gibbs said and then turned to face Mc Gee: "Mc Gee dig deep into the financial records of Pearson, see if you find anything unusual in it." Tony, Ziva and Mc Gee got quickly to their tasks and Gibbs got back to his desk taking another sip of his coffee. Gibbs desk phone then rang and he was a little surprised to hear Hollis Man answer on the other end of the phone line as he finally took the call. "I hope this come too unexpected to you; I wanted to invite you and Kelly over to my house for a nice little dinner at my house." Hollis feared for the worst as there was total silence between them but then Gibbs finally answered: "Me and Kelly would love to come to your house tonight for a nice little dinner." Right now at this moment Gibbs realized he still had deep down feelings for Hollis and maybe the chances now where very good that they would get back together, giving their relationship a second chance it clearly deserved.

"That's great so see you later tonight." Hollis replied and even Gibbs didn't see it she smiled because she was very happy that Gibbs had accepted her invitation. Kelly then said to her dad: "So you and I have a little date tonight with Hollis at her house? Isn't that great?"

"Yes it is." Gibbs said, smiled at her and then the two decided to get themselves something to drink in a nearby coffee store.

_AN: Thanks to- Ken SNJ for reviewing the story and for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, thanks to- fart fart for reviewing this story, thanks to- Erin Walton for adding this story to her favorite stories list and for reviewing this story, thanks to- cheether for reviewing this story, thanks to- DS 2010 for reviewing this story. I hope you like this chapter, please read and review_


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

At the evening Kelly and Gibbs were getting themselves ready for the dinner at Hollis house. Kelly would surely take the opportunity to discretely squeeze out some details about the relationship her dad and Hollis used have and why it all didn't work out in the end. She just knew right now what her father had told, that he and Hollis had both agreed it didn't work out between them or was that just a lie by dad because he still didn't want to admit the truth to himself yet.

While Kelly was still busy with choosing an appropriate outfit for tonight, Gibbs was already finished and was sitting on the couch in the living room and thought a lot about what that time together with Hollis today could mean for his future? Would she take him back, if he would admit that he still loved her with all his heart? Jethro didn't know that for sure right now because so much time had passed, since he had decided to end the relationship with Hollis. Maybe the two would only be friends in the future, because Hollis had let a new man in her life that even had replaced him in her heart.

Gibbs smiled for a moment, because Kelly had that one thing in common with her mother Shannon: In her case it also took a lot of time for her to get herself ready, when she and Gibbs had been going out during the time the two were happy in love. Gibbs wished so much at this moment, that Shannon could see what great young woman her daughter had now become and right now a little bit of grief because of that came right into his train of thought. Quickly he then put these thoughts away because Shannon had surely wanted him to be strong for Kelly and he would make that nothing was ever going to happen to her. Finally Kelly then came down the flight of stairs, smiled brightly at her dad and said: "Ok Dad I'm ready to go. That's sure going to be a very nice evening at Hollis house and I'm really excited for the meal she's going to cook." Then the two got in Gibbs old Dodge car and made their way to Hollis house. On the drive to Hollis house, Gibbs thought a lot about the fact how surely awkward the atmosphere would be between him and Hollis after all this time that they hadn't seen each other. But he quickly then put this aside for now and decided to just concentrate on driving for now.

Meanwhile back at Hollis Man's house, she was putting the final touches on table decorations and putting dishes and silverware directly next to them. She was really looking forward to spend the evening with Gibbs and his daughter and it was nice to have Gibbs around again after they hadn't seen each other for such a long time. Did she maybe still love him? Or were her feelings messing around with her? She had tried her very best to move on with her life after Jethro had decided to end the relationship but that had proved to be more difficult than she thought. Hollis had even started a little affair with a friend from her good old times at College but after a short time she had realized that they just were too different to get the relationship to work out between them. She thought she really loved John but soon realized that no man could ever replace Jethro Gibbs in her heart and maybe now was good time to give their relationship a second try. Finally she was completely finished with the final preparations and hoped that all on this evening would go smooth, especially the meal she had prepared for tonight. A little bit later the three finally had set down at the table in Hollis Living room and were already talking and laughing a lot, Hollis was really surprised at first to see Gibbs smile so much the whole time but she was certainly happy for him.

"Hollis that's really the best turkey I've ever ate." Kelly said and then took another sip of her Coca Cola. "I totally agree with that, this turkey is really delicious and thank you again for inviting us tonight."

"I'm glad you both like my turkey so much and I hope you're going to invite me to Christmas now in return." Hollis said, brightly smiled at Gibbs and waited for his reaction. For a time that almost seemed like an eternity to Kelly, she poked in the side to finally get a reaction out of her dad. Finally Gibbs said:" Of course, I'm going to invite you to Christmas, me and Kelly would love to welcome you in our house." He smiled brightly at her and then the three silently continued eating. Meanwhile Tony sat at a bar and flirted with some girls. He was kind of tired because the hard work on the case for almost the whole evening had really exhausted him, even if that wasn't new to him because working with Gibbs always meant to have a lot of overtime. Kelly and Gibbs finally said goodbye to Hollis and the two said how much they had enjoyed the evening and Hollis said before Gibbs and his daughter finally turned around to go back to their car: "It was very nice to have you two here and I'm really looking forward to see you on Christmas." Then Gibbs turned round but only walked a few meters before he turned around, walked up to Hollis and kissed her. She was a little surprised by that at first but then she finally let herself get totally caught up in this moment and kissed him back with all her heart. Then before he finally went to join his daughter Gibbs said: "I love you."

"I love you too Jethro." Hollis replied without hesitating and now she was really certain that she still had romantically feelings for the silver haired NCIS Special Agent.

The Next day Gibbs came into the office in very good mood, he handed his whole team in the bullpen a coffee and all of them were happy but also very surprised about that gesture from their boss. Tony even thought, if Gibbs was Gibbs anymore when he was being all nice the whole time. Meanwhile Kelly and Hollis were sitting together in Gibbs house, because Gibbs had asked her again to come by and look after his daughter while he was at work. They chatted about a lot of things and Hollis even admitted after a while that she considered her and Gibbs to be together again and that she was really happy about it.

The team made a lot of progress in the case and now had lowered the field of suspects down to a minimum: Sam Richards, a man that used to be together with the victim and never really got over the fact, that she dumped him because she realized that they were too different. The second one was: Her CO Donald Matterson.

Later this day in the evening, Gibbs spontaneously invited Ziva, Mc Gee, Tony and Abby to his house for a Thanksgiving dinner. When they all sat at the table, Kelly chatted a little bit with Tony, who she was sitting right next to: "You look very pretty Kelly."

"Thanks Tony, you look cool too." Kelly said and brightly grinned at him. When Gibbs caught Dinozzo staring a little too obvious where he shouldn't be, he gave him a little soft slap on his head and as Tony rubbed the back of his head a little bit and said: "Sorry Boss." That made Kelly and Gibbs laugh and all the others joined in.

_AN: thanks to- hslacer for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription and reviewing the story, thanks to- Kelly Gibbs NCIS for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription and for reviewing this story, for adding it to her/his favorite stories list and for reviewing this story, thanks to- fart fart for reviewing this story. I hope you like this chapter, please read and review._


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Being in this still unknown Environment that was her home when she was little still wasn't easy for Kelly. When her dad was not around her she totally felt insecure, even having nightmares the last nights she had slept here in this house. At the moment, Hollis and Kelly sat together in the living room of Gibbs house, Hollis had surely noticed, that Kelly was totally somewhere else with her thoughts but every time she was trying to get out of her what was wrong, Kelly would change the subject very fast.

After a few tries Hollis then let it be, deciding it wouldn't do both of them any good, if she tried to press out of her, what was making her head spinning the whole time. Maybe she was getting a little to paranoid but this morning, it was just too quiet around the house and Kelly was in fear, that maybe the people who had kidnapped her, would march through this door any moment and take her back to this terrible dirty place in the middle of nowhere. She then tried to move her thoughts into a positive direction, thinking about the fact that her first Christmas after all these years being locked away from the civilization was not so far anymore and she was really looking forward to that.

Gibbs sat at his desk, being totally frustrated that a solid lead to the person who murdered the victim proved to be a dead end. It really seemed that the real killer, had planted this trail of evidence to lead them to Mark Waters, a former boyfriend of the victim and he didn't took it quiet well, when the victim ended their relationship after three years. That certainly would have given him a motive, since Waters had always been a very aggressive person, getting some priors because of beating up some of girlfriends. But since Waters had been surprisingly found dead in his apartment in Norfolk, the whole case was practically set back to square one but Gibbs had never been the person to give up that easy, so he had ordered his team to look through the evidence they had so far again. His instinct, that one thing that was thing that had never let him down in the past, said to him in his mind, that there was definitely something that he was missing in this very complicated case. "Boss I think I found something, you should see this." Mc Gee said and by that interrupting Gibbs train of thought. The silver haired Special Agent looked up to the MIT Graduate and then said: "I'm listening Mc Gee, you have my full attention. What do you got?"

Mc Gee then grabbed the remote for the flat screen in the middle of the office and then a video that was apparently from a surveillance camera appeared on the screen: "This is a video, which was taken one day after our victim was murdered. This gentleman here broke into the apartment. Neighbors, who heard suspicious noices from the apartment called the police right away, but when they arrived the stranger, who we sadly couldn't get an idea on; since he kept his away the whole time from the traffic cam was already gone. "

"Coordinate with Norfolk PD together with Ziva Mc Gee and you Tony are paying the sister of the victim a visit, here is the address." Gibbs said and then handed a sheet with the address of Stephanie Bishop, the sister of the dead navy LT on it. All three of them disappeared out of the office and Gibbs let his thoughts now wander to his daughter that was sitting at home right now with Hollis because she had insisted that someone kept her company, while he was at work and so couldn't be there for her. Surely, he wanted to be so badly at home right now just holding Kelly in his arms and reassuring her, that no one would ever hurt her but he needed to focus on the task at hand right now: solving this case, that really proved to be one heck of a challenge for Gibbs investigator skills and he liked having a challenge.

Back at Gibbs house as Hollis came back from the kitchen with two cups of hot chocolate, Kelly was suddenly sitting on the sofa with her legs pulled near to her body, her face covered with her hands and crying. Hollis put the two cups quickly on the little table in front of the couch, gently caressed the back of Kelly and tried her best to calm her down. During continued sobs, she then finally got out: "Please don't let them take me! "

"Shh Kelly, no one will take you away! I'm here and I will protect you, ok?" Kelly then continued to cry on Hollis shoulder and Hollis felt so sorry for Gibbs little girl. Then she said: "I'll be right back ok?"

"Ok." Was all that Kelly could get out in between her continued sobs and then Hollis grabbed the landline from the table near the kitchen and dialed Gibbs office number, hoping he wasn't too busy right now to take this call. Finally after a few rings: "Gibbs here."

"Hi Jethro this is Hollis, sorry to disturb you but I think Kelly really needs right now at home." Hollis replied and really hoped Jethro wasn't too busy at work. Gibbs on the other end of the line didn't really know what to say for a few minutes, because now he was starting to get a little bit worried. Then after some thinking he finally said: "Ok, I'll make way back home right away." Then he hung up, left the office really in a hurry and in his head all these questions popped up, really hoping that nothing bad had happened to his lovely daughter.

Meanwhile Ziva and Mc Gee arrived at the apartment of the former boyfriend of the victim; a Norfolk Metro PD Officer was already expecting them. "I'm Agent Mc Gee and this is Agent David we are here to inspect the crime scene." Mc Gee said and then the Police Officer right away replied: "My boss informed me an hour ago, that you guys were coming. Follow me and nothing at the Crime Scene has been altered, nobody has touched the body." Then they finally arrived at the bedroom, where the body of Mark Waters was located and Mc Gee and Ziva got to work. Finally Gibbs was now sitting right next to his daughter, Kelly crying her eyes out on his shoulder and Gibbs calmed her down with his soothing voice: "Everything is okay Sweetie, I'm here, I will make sure no one will hurt you and I promise that one is going to take you away from me." Finally her sobs died down, she wiped her last tears away and just tightly held onto her dad.

_AN: Thanks to- Mrs Snape forever 101 for adding this story to her story alert subscription, thanks to- Lover of Reid for adding me to her favorite authors list, for adding this story to her favorite stories list, for reviewing this story, thanks to- shoobiebuster for adding this story to his/her favorite stories list, thanks to- Kelly Gibbs NCIS for reviewing this story, thanks to- Eni 01 for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, thanks to- fart fart for reviewing this story, thanks to- daisy da dog for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, thanks to- hslacer for reviewing this story._

_Please read and review_


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter 13

After Kelly had finally calmed she was now sleeping on the couch in the living room of Gibbs house, Gibbs still sitting right next to her on the nearest couch together with Hollis because Kelly had insisted, that he would stay a little longer with her because she had the fear, she would wake up in her cell in the middle of nowhere. Meanwhile Hollis reassuringly softly squeezed Gibbs right hand, making sure that he would know that she would help him and Kelly get through this difficult time. Gibbs was certainly thankful for Hollis support on this matter and he really hopped that Kelly would get soon used to her new surroundings.

Surely he wouldn't try to rush anything; he would take every step with her into the new world she stepped in after she had been so long locked away from civilization. He carefully got up from the couch as his mobile phone brought his train of thought to an abrupt end, looking at the display he saw Tony's caller ID on the display and figured that his team had found out some new things in their current case. After softly stroking over one of the cheeks of his sleeping daughter, he went into the kitchen of the house and finally picked up the phone there:" What do you got for me Di Nozzo?" "Hi Boss, Ducky has completed a first roughly examination of the body of Mark Waters, Waters possibly died because of blunt force trauma. A neighbor has seen a suspicious car yesterday evening, so sign of the murder weapon so far."

"Ok I'll be back in the office shortly." Gibbs said, hung up and then said to Hollis: "I'll have to get back to the office stay with her ok?" "Of course, take care of yourself." Hollis answered, tightly hugged Gibbs and gave him a short kiss on his right cheek. Gibbs was thankful for the support Hollis was giving him and had never ever thought that he would find a woman again that he would love like his lovely first wife Shannon. She would surely be very happy for him, if she could see what he had made of his life now. Finally after a long drive back Gibbs finally reached the NCIS Headquarters again and was immediately greeted by Di Nozzo: "Mc Gee and Ziva have gotten back from Waters Apartment, they found an obvious signs of a struggle." Then Ziva got up from her desk and said: "Gibbs we identified the mysterious car, which was sighted near Waters Apartment on the day he died." Then she took the remote for Flat Screen and put a picture of a black Lexus on it. "The Lexus was obviously stolen, the license plates faked and originally the car is registered to Paul Parker." When Gibbs grabbed his coffee Mc Gee said: "Seems whoever took the bank card of our victim tried to use it a few hours ago, unfortunately the surveillance camera got no good shot at his face."

"Keep searching Mc Gee, I want a name." Then all of them got back to work, Gibbs took the elevator down to Abby's lab and really hoped that the black haired Goth had something interesting for him.

"Gibbs I've got something for you, it isn't much but better than nothing right? It's a small hair, so far unidentified, no hits in any of the known databases but that's not all: I've also got a half fingerprint because whoever the person was, he or she got a little sloppy. "

"Good Job Abs, keep me posted." Gibbs answered, set the caff pow for Abby down on the Lab Table and then made his way to the Autopsy. Meanwhile upstairs Tony got off the phone with an ex colleague of the victim, having a big grin on his face what had to mean that the person on the other end had given him some very valuable information regarding their victim. Tony took on his jacket, told Ziva to tell Gibbs, that he was following on a lead and then he disappeared into the elevator.

Back at Gibbs house Kelly had a very uneasy sleep, having the constant nightmare that her captors would drag her back to that place in the middle of nowhere what had been her prison for the last few years. Finally she just gave up trying to sleep and wandered into the small living room, where Hollis could barely keep both of her eyes open anymore. Hollis was startled for a few moments when Kelly suddenly appeared in front of her, she got up into a sitting position motioned to the free space on the sofa with one hand and said: "Come here to me Kelly. Are you hungry? Your dad has left some little snacks to eat in the kitchen."

"Yes something to eat would nice." Kelly answered then sat down on the sofa beside Hollis, one of the few persons she felt comfortable around since she had arrived. It would be surely difficult to trust persons and get used to the fact she was now living back in the civilization, with so much people around her and an environment that certainly scared her. Right now she didn't really want to leave the house of her dad, because she was to afraid somebody would kidnap her outside her safe zone and that she wouldn't find the back to the house. Hollis then shortly disappeared into the kitchen, coming back with to plates in her hands with two little sandwiches on it. She then also got something to drink for both of them and Hollis tried her best, to get Kelly's mind of the scary nightmares she was having giving her some pep talk. Hollis was happy to see a smile coming across Kelly's face after she would tell her the fun story about the first meeting of her and Gibbs and Kelly was certainly thankful for the distraction being provided by Gibbs girlfriend. She was certainly happy for her dad, that he had found a woman again that he loved as much as his first wife Shannon.

To think back to the day her mother had died still made her very sad even now, because that was one day she would remember forever. She surviving on that tragic day, seeing the bloody body of her mother sitting totally motionless behind the crashed car, being dragged out the car and the last thing she felt was something being pressed to her mouth. At first she was trying to fight her way out of there but the men who had captured her where just too strong to beat and in the end she gave up, accepting the fact that she would probably never see the light of day again.

_AN: Thanks to- Chloe. Drew your worst enemy for adding me to her favorite authors list, author alert subscription, favorite stories list, reviewing this story, thanks to- NCIS Rocker Girl for adding this story to her favorite stories list, thanks to- Potter Weasley 5 for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, thanks to- Marta von Trapp for adding this story to her favorite stories list, reviewing this story, thanks to- little princess of mercury for reviewing this story, for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list and story alert subscription, thanks to- Saqqara 08 for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, thanks to- Pink M for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list. _

_I hope you like this chapter, please read and review_


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter 14

Gibbs and his team were finally close to wrapping up the case, since Tony and Ziva had found enough incriminating evidence to make Mark Bishop the ex-boyfriend of the victim their number one suspect right now for the murder of Laura Parker. Fortunately it didn't take long for the ex-boyfriend to admit, that he had murdered her because of the fact, she wanting a separation after he had continuously refused to fight his alcohol addiction.

He had totally lost it after she also had admitted having a new boyfriend, because she just couldn't be with a man that preferred the alcohol over her. He broke down in tears, saying how sorry he was and that he didn't want their relationship to end this way, but he just hadn't got any control of his actions. Gibbs only saw that as poor excuse, practically shoved the photo of the young navy Lt. in his face and said: "That young woman didn't deserve, to die at that young age. Don't think that you can fool me a bit with that scheme pretending to be so sorry about what you've because in my opinion you don't mean a word you say."

Then Gibbs motioned to the officer outside of the door and said: "Take that disgrace in a uniform away." He never felt that strong emotion toward a person he had apprehended during his work at a navy investigator but the female victim being only a few years older than his daughter, he was automatically worried again about the well-being of Kelly. Later back in the office he just stared a couple of minutes at the black computer screen, totally being lost in his thoughts for quite a while that he didn't notice Ziva approaching his desk. "Is everything okay with you? You kind of seemed so far away from here with your thoughts."

Gibbs slowly turned his head around to face the former Mossad Agent and wasn't surprised that she had clearly noticed, that something had been bothering him the whole day. Fortunately she had been very discreet about revealing her observation to anybody and surely wouldn't tell anybody in the team of his problems, if he asked her to. After taking one deep breath in and then finally breathing out again after a few seconds he said: "It's about Kelly, it looks like it will take a while for her to get used to living a normal life again. She seems so vulnerable right now; that I just want to be with her the whole day, so that she knows all the time that Daddy is there to protect her. Ziva took her chair from behind her desk, placed it in front of Gibbs desk and after she had sat down said: "She will get through this and if you need anything, the whole team is there to help you."

Gibbs just nodded and took one last sip of his late evening coffee, the two continued to talk for a while and then finally leaving NCIS Headquarters both driving away with their cars. On the drive home a lot was on Gibbs mind, especially that one question: What would the future hold for him and Kelly? Would he maybe marry again, so that Kelly would have a mom and dad? But he quickly banned that idea from his mind, because of his bad luck in the past with women it really wasn't that great idea to marry again. He loved Hollis very much, but he just couldn't establish that deep relationship with her like he had with his wife Shannon. In the end, no one would be able to fully replace her in his heart. Kelly welcomed her dad back home, shortly after he had finally stepped through the door and for a couple of minutes they both just stood there and were just tightly holding on to each other. Then the two went into the living room, Gibbs greeted Hollis with a short kiss on the mouth and then he told both them how his day was. Later that evening they ate together and Gibbs couldn't have felt happier then he felt right now.

The next after eating breakfast, which Hollis had prepared for them, Gibbs was on his way to work. He made his usual stop at his favorite Coffee Store near NCIS Headquarters, the waitress smiled brightly at him and said: "Can I bring you your usual coffee Gibbs?" Gibbs smiled too and just nodded. *_She knows me just so well* _Gibbs thought and after Iris, his usual waitress handed him his coffee he took one large sip and also had some small talk with Iris.

_AN: Thanks to- KabsGibbs for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, thanks to- hslacer for reviewing this story. I hope you like this chapter, please & review_


	15. Chapter 15

Chapter 15

Again a long work day was still ahead of him and a little bad gut feeling, concerning leaving Hollis and his daughter alone at home. Surely he trusted Hollis fully, protecting Kelly from any danger that may threaten her life but he just feared that something could badly go wrong, that would change the whole situation very dramatically. His train of thought got suddenly rudely interrupted as the phone on his desk rang; he looked at the caller Id for a second and then picked up: "What do you have for me Ducky?"

"I have found something interesting on the dead body of Marine Sargent Peter Frisky that you should see for yourself." Ducky answered and waited for Gibbs answer. He knew deep down that Gibbs was always worried about something happening to his daughter and Ducky totally understood that, because he would probably act the same when he would be at Gibbs position.

"Ok I'll be right there Ducky." Gibbs shortly answered, hung up the phone and made his way down to the basement of NCIS Headquarters. Meanwhile at home, Kelly was sitting in the living room with Hollis; Kelly missed her dad very much like every time he had to go away to work. She got up from the couch, looked a little through the big window out on the very empty street outside but what she didn't know was, that her kidnappers were having the house under surveillance and were waiting for the right opportunity to grab her. The new boss of Pedro Hernandez gang: Fernando Perez wanted revenge since he had found out that Gibbs had killed his brother and by taking his daughter away from him for so long, wasn't nearly enough in his opinion he had to made him suffer a lot more.

He had planned this whole thing for so long and if everything would be going according to plan, he would soon stand over the dead body of his arch enemy Special Agent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. Through his paid informants at the right places, Fernando had gained enough information about Gibbs to always be one step ahead of him and with that advantage it would be easy to beat him with his own weapons. _* Revenge will be mine….very soon Agent Gibbs!* _Fernando thought to himself, evilly grinned into the direction of Gibbs house from a safe distance and then commanded his driver to end the surveillance for now. Back at NCIS Headquarters Gibbs finally arrived at Autopsy and immediately came to the point: "What do you got for me?" Ducky grabbed a magnifying glass, handed it to Gibbs and said: "Here it is what disturbed me so much." He motioned him to come where he was standing and then showed him the place, where Gibbs should point the magnifying glass to. Gibbs did as he was told by his pathologist and as he saw the weird residue on the arm of the victim, Ducky said: "If already sent a sample of the residue to Abby." "You found anything else Duck? Gibbs asked

"I've determined the COD of Mister Frisky; I recovered a lot of splinters from a big head wound and by that the victim must have died of a heavy hit to the head in combination with multiple stabs to the back. Since I haven't found any DNA under the fingernails of the victim, the killer has clearly surprised him and made sure that he couldn't fight back his attacker."

"Thanks duck and keep me posted on anything new regarding the victim." Gibbs answered and then made his way to Abby's lab on the same floor, to see what she had got for him so far concerning their current case. Meanwhile at the Bullpen Mc Gee received a surprise call by his sister Sarah and he really that she didn't get herself in trouble again but fortunately she said: "I have semester holiday, maybe you and me could do something together after your finished with working today. What do you say about that big brother?" Tim thought about that suggestion from his sister and then finally said: "Yeah that sounds great, maybe we could drink something together at my favorite restaurant very near to my place."

"Sounds cool Timmy, then I see you tonight at your place." Sarah answered and then hung up. Mc Gee was still a little puzzled because of what just had happened but he quickly collected himself and then got back to work on the recent assignment that Gibbs had given to him: Looking through the Financial Records of Marine Captain Frisky.

A couple of hours later when it finally became dark outside, the black van with Fernando Perez and his driver returned to their surveillance post, watched the house closely and prepared for the moment to strike. Finally, after doing a lot observing of the target, Fernando decided to put the next phase of his big plan into motion. He and the other men got out of the vehicle and carefully made their way to the attack position.

Inside Hollis had a bad gut feeling, as she heard something suspicious around the house but before she could say anything a couple shots were fired through the window. At the right time, Hollis pushed Kelly to the ground and told her to stay down; meanwhile she grabbed her cell phone and quickly dialed Gibbs cell phone number. Anxiously she waited for Gibbs to pick up the phone and all she said into the phone was: "Gibbs help!" On the other end of the line Gibbs was now deeply worried for Hollis and Kelly, after Hollis had explained everything in the shortest way possible, he quickly hang up and said to Dinozzo and the others in the bullpen: "Dinozzo you've got the lead while I'm away because I need to get home NOW!"

"What is it Gibbs? Is everything ok with Kelly?" Ziva asked concerned

"Someone is clearly trying to get my attention and whoever that is, he has my fully attention now! Hollis and Kelly are in danger and I can't let anything happen to them." Then he disappeared into the elevator, directly drove to the floor where all the NCIS cars stood.

He really hoped that he wouldn't arrive to late at his house, because he would never forgive himself if he would lose his daughter again.

_AN: Thanks to- insanetrouble for adding this story to her favorite stories list, thanks to- NCIS Mash forever for adding this story to her favorite stories list and reviewing the story. I hope you like this chapter, please read & review_


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

As Gibbs arrived at the scene, he was immediately taken under heavy fire and had to take cover behind the car. As he figured out a way to fight his way through to the house, an enormous mass of bullets fired from AK 47 shattered the windows of the dark blue dodge, that wouldn't certainly protect him forever from the massive attack of the gunmen. As the attacker had to reload, Gibbs took this one chance he had to get out of hiding, fired a couple of very precise shots that got the man killed instantly. Meanwhile the others were busy with trying to tear down the door of the house and as Gibbs saw that he couldn't get through this without help, he made one call to person that could help him best right now: Tobias Fornell.

After firing some again from behind his car, he quickly grabbed his phone from his pocket and hit speed dial, one of the few things he could do now with this modern piece of technology after Mc Gee had showed him how to do it. "Hey Jethro, haven't heard from you in while…" Fornell started to say after he had picked up but Gibbs quickly cut him off and said: "No time for pleasantries Tobias, I need your help and I need it fast."

"Oh ok what do you need?"

"The Salazar Cartel is at my house right now, I need a swat team here."

"Why is the Salazar Cartel pissed at you?"

"Let's just they have a score to settle with me for a long time." Fornell then finished the phone conversation assuring Gibbs that he would be there with the Cavalry as soon as possible. Back at the house, Kelly was really frightened because of the continued rumblings at the door and Hollis really tried her best to calm her down: "shh, it's going to be okay, we will get through this, daddy will help us out of the mess I know that." Kelly held on tightly to Hollis body like her life pretended on it and tried to silence the doubts in her mind by keep saying to her that her dad would surely not let anything happen to them.

Back at NCIS Headquarters, Gibbs team surely had the thought on their minds to help Gibbs in this whole thing but their boss had made it clear to them, which they had to finish the case in his absence. "Of course we still have got a case to solve but I still have a bad feeling, leaving Gibbs there out alone without us backing him up." Tony said and waited on any reaction of his fellow team mates. The rest didn't really know what to say for quite a while but then Ziva finally said to end the almost uncomfortable silence: "I think all of us have that bad feeling, but I think Gibbs is definitely one person who knows which risk is worth to take, I mean he isn't one of the best NCIS Agents for no reason." Mc Gee and Tony only nodded in reply, both them knowing that Ziva had made a good point. A big shoot out ensued as the FBI Cavalry finally arrived at Gibbs house, side by side Fornell and Gibbs fought their way forward to Gibbs house and he was very glad, that his house had been built in such great distance to the next houses because he definitely didn't like noisy neighbors. Finally the two with swat team in tow had reached Gibbs house and the premises had been totally cleared of hostiles. As Kelly saw her dad coming through the door, she got up from the ground, tightly hugged and said: I missed so much dad and I was so scared." Gibbs softly kissed his daughter's forehead and assured her that nothing could happen to her. After he had thanked Fornell for the big unbuerocratic help, he and Hollis tried to clean up the most of the most in his house and as he looked at all the broken windows around him, he thought to himself: _*It's going to be a lot of work to get rid of this mess!* _Even know Gibbs didn't regret one bit what he had done a couple of years ago, killing Pedro Hernandez, the man that had taken the life of his lovely wife Shannon.

Only to think of her made him cry even know, when he had thought that he had put all this behind him and had moved on with life. Hollis assured him, that she would be there for him the whole way and then the two just kissed. Right at this moment Gibbs felt at peace with himself and was thankful to have someone like Hollis to support him. Showing his real feelings to other people was something really new for him, because most of his life he had hid most of those feelings behind some emotionless mask but that was now all to change because of the return of his daughter into his life. Later that day, he went into the basement to have some time for him alone because of all that had happened he needed some time to take this all in. He worked on wooden chair; maybe he would sit in it when it was finally finished. While continuing to work on the chair, he decided that Kelly definitely had to meet her grandpa sometime and Jackson Gibbs would surely love to meet her.

A little later, Gibbs and Hollis sat on the sofa in the living room in a comfortable silence holding hands with each other the whole time. That whole thing made them feel like teenagers again and made him forget about anything else for the next hour.

_AN: Thanks to- Yin 7 for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, thanks to- hs lacer for reviewing the story, thanks to- Callen 37 for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, Thanks to- Sunny Princess for adding this story to her favorite stories list and reviewing this story and adding this story to her story alert subscription. I hope you like this chapter, Please read & review_


	17. Chapter 17

Chapter 17

Dinozzo was chilling a little at his desk, since he had sent Ziva and Mc Gee away to follow up on a lead in their current case. Since Gibbs was not in the house right now and surely nobody was watching him right now, he put his feet on the desk and was talking with one of his many on-off girlfriends. He was so consumed in his telephone conversation, that he didn't notice Gibbs coming through the elevator and then snug up behind him to give Tony a slap on the head. Tony then quickly ended the conversation with Jennifer but promised to call her back later and after that Gibbs asked: "What do you got for me Dinozzo?" Tony took a moment to collect himself and then he answered: "Mc Gee and Ziva are following a new Lead in the Case, considering a suspicious payment that Mc Gee has discovered in the bank records of the victims boyfriend." Gibbs then went back to his desk and called Hollis, who had practically moved in with him since she was spending so much time with him and Kelly to hear how Kelly was doing.

Life was surely different for Gibbs now with his daughter suddenly being back, when he thought that he had lost forever she was standing in front of him again, now as a grown women and he was surely very proud that Kelly survived this hell. Hollis was also still very important to him, she was his anchor when it maybe all got too much for him to handle but probably even she couldn't replace his lovely wife Shannon in his heart. He wanted so much to be there for Kelly the whole time, but he still got a job to do that he loved so much, since he had started working at NCIS as a young Probie Agent, his dead long-time friend Mike Franks. It still made his heart ache a little when he thought of the way how Mike died because he clearly hadn't deserved to die that way. He quickly then focused back on the case, that was still quite far from being solved but he clearly loved a big challenge to his investigator skills and wasn't called one of the best NCIS Agents for nothing. Gibbs was suddenly interrupted in his train of thought as Ziva and Mc Gee returned from their field trip a little later that day and Mc Gee was the one to report their exact findings concerning the money trail, which they had followed. They finally then brought another suspect in for questioning and as Gibbs later that day made his way to interrogation, he thought to himself: _*This is really going to be a long day!* _Back at Gibbs house Kelly sat alone in her room, still very much shaken up from the things that had happened just an hour ago and wondered if she would ever fit into her new environment. Would she ever be able to live a normal life again? She still felt so lost right now, but of one thing she was totally sure: She would get through this struggle with the help of her dad and even Hollis. She surely was happy that her dad had found another woman he could fall in love with but in his heart was probably one special place reserved for his first wife Shannon and she really missed her mom so much.

It had been a personal hell for her after she had realized her mother hadn't survived the car crash, she still remembered every cruel detail of the moment, when she had held her mother's blood stained body in her arms and was screaming for help, even if she knew down that no one would come to rescue them here in the middle of nowhere. Remembering that day, made one tear escape her that made her way down one cheek at once but Kelly tried her very best to block this emotion out and so wiped away the tear with the thumb of her right hand. With a little smile on her face she then looked at a nice framed picture on her nightstand of her and her dad and remembering the good old times as a kid made her feel a little better and she was glad to have found a distraction at this moment. She was so much into her own thoughts, that she didn't register the soft knock on her door at first but then she finally turned to the door to face Holly standing in the doorframe, obviously waiting for her permission to enter the room. Kelly tried her best to put on a neutral face and said: "Hi Holly come on in." Hollis stepped into the room of Gibbs daughter, took a while to take in her surroundings because she had never seen this room in Gibbs house ever before and smiled as she saw one picture of little Kelly with Gibbs, now totally aware of the fact how much his daughter meant to him and then finally sat down beside Kelly on the big bed: "I know you wanted to have some time for you alone but I thought you may be needed someone to talk to after what has happened today. "

Kelly had to think about that for a moment and then she finally said: "Thanks for the offer Hollis but I'm feeling a lot better now. There is definitely one thing I want to talk about now: Tell me how you and my dad have met for the first time." Hollis smiled as she thought back to the first ever meeting with Leroy Jethro Gibbs and as she began to tell Kelly of her and Gibbs first meeting Gibbs daughter listened anxiously to every single word.

The two talked for hours and it felt very good to Kelly, talking with his father's girlfriend and sometimes she could even laugh about the weird antics of his father. When it finally became dark Gibbs returned home and Kelly had fallen asleep on Hollis shoulder, Gibbs softly kissed Kelly on her forehead and then carefully lay her down in her bed. The two then silently went into the living room without waking her and just enjoyed each other's company on the couch.

_AN: Thanks to- Dragon Spartan for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, Thanks to- NCIS Balto Fan for adding this story to her story alert subscription, for reviewing this story, for adding this story to her favorite stories list, thanks to- Sunny Princess for adding this story to her favorite stories list and reviewing this story, thanks to- hs lacer for reviewing this story. I hope you like this chapter, please read & review_


	18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Gibbs and Hollis had felt asleep on the couch when they were woken up by the ringing of his cell phone. Slowly Jethro opened his eyes, looked at the Caller ID and picked it up: "What do you got for me Dinozzo?"

"We've followed Brent Parker, our best lead to a warehouse just outside of DC and it looks like he's meeting with someone there." Gibbs thought about that, what Tony had just said to him and if he should be part of the raid or if he should let Ziva and Mc Gee do the work. Finally he then said: "Send the address of the warehouse to my phone and tell Ziva and Mc Gee that I will meet them there."

"Will do Boss." Tony answered and hung up. Meanwhile Hollis had also slowly awakened besides Gibbs and asked: "Let me guess, you need to get back to the office?" He softly kissed her on her forehead and then answered: "Yeah, duty calls." Hollis pulled Gibbs down on the couch one more time and for a couple of minutes they were busy with making out on the couch, while Kelly was already sleeping upstairs. A few minutes later Gibbs then had his way to the Warehouse, knowing that his daughter was in very good hands and happy to know that the case was almost closed. The whole drive back to the office, he thought a lot about what the future would hold for him, Hollis and his daughter. His dad would surely be happy to have one granddaughter; the two would surely meet when she was ready for it and Gibbs was very confident that Kelly would soon adjust to the life in this now unknown environment. He was as happy as a person could be in his age; he had a woman at his side who really loved him and his daughter back in his life, after all these years in which he had thought, that he had lost her forever and this time he would make sure that nobody would ever hurt her. He finally arrived at the address, that Tony had sent to his phone and as he got out of the car, he already spotted Ziva and Mc Gee standing nearby.

Later the three were finally ready to move in, Gibbs really that nothing would go wrong during the raid but quickly put these thoughts away because those thoughts would only distract him. Once inside several gunmen opened fire on them, the three took cover as best as they could behind some crates and fired back at the attackers. Later they led Parker in handcuffs out of the building, after they had taken out the gunmen in warehouse but Gibbs had the slight bad gut feeling that all was a little too easy.

His instinct had never let him down in the past, so he decided to remain cautious the whole drive back to the Navy Yard because deep down he knew that something bad would happen before they reached their destination. But in the end he was happy to know, that the case was now almost closed so that he could soon get back home to Hollis and his daughter. But before they reached the Navy Yard, a car suddenly appeared next to them and tried his very best to kick them off the road and that made Gibbs think right at this very moment: _*Sometimes I hate it when I'm right.* _Ziva tried her best to fight off the attacking car and that worked quite well for them, but suddenly the man next to the driver pulled out a gun and shot at them , the first shot hit the rear window of the car and they could practically her the window in the back fall into pieces. Gibbs now pulled out his gun too and fired some shots at the car behind them.

Before he had the opportunity to fire another round of shots at the target, exactly at the spot that the bullet proof vest didn't cover but he choose to ignore the pain. Ziva had surely a little concerned look on her face, as she shortly looked at Gibbs and had probably noticed the little shot wound on his shoulder but he assured her that everything was fine.

Gibbs then finally fired some more shots at the attackers; he finally hit the driver in the head with two precise shots and so they could continue their drive back to Navy Yard.

_AN: Thanks to- DS 2010 for reviewing this story, Thanks to- Mash NCIS 4ever for reviewing this story, Thanks to- Zibbie 08 for reviewing this story. I Hope you like this chapter, please read & review_


	19. Chapter 19

Chapter 19

After the Case was finally closed Gibbs returned home, very eager to get back to his daughter and Hollis. Ziva and Tony still sat at their desks, finishing up their reports when Tony shortly looked up from his paper work and said: "It's very unusual to see Gibbs…so happy, that's really something I've got to get used to." Ziva finished the current line in her report then she answered: "It's very nice to see him this happy; I think I'm already getting used to the new Gibbs and it's definitely a good thing for him to have his daughter back in his life."

Meanwhile Gibbs parked his car in front of the house, got out of the car and looked at his house with a big smile on his face. Smiling, was something that he was doing not very often in the past but since he had the woman he loved back at his side and the surprise return of his daughter into his life had changed his life for the better. He slowly and without making too much noise opened the front door and as he had slowly closed it again behind him, he walked to the couch table, grabbed the remote from it and turned off the TV. He walked to the couch, where Hollis had apparently fallen asleep, covered her body with a blanket and kissed her forehead lightly as he made his way upstairs to the room of his daughter. He looked at the peaceful sleeping figure of Kelly for quite a while, after he had carefully opened the door to her room, sat down at her bedside to lightly kiss her forehead and whisper softly in her ear: "You're safe here and I will make sure that nobody will ever take you away from me again and that's a promise." Kelly stirred slowly in her bed, probably had just pretended to be sleeping and said: "I Love you dad." Once again one of the rare smiles swept onto Gibbs face as his daughter said this words and he replied: "I love you too sweetheart, but go to sleep now we will see each other tomorrow."

"Okay, good night dad."

"Good night sweetheart and have sweet dreams." Gibbs replied and then slowly closed the door behind him. In the bedroom, that been not used by Gibbs in the longer period that he and Hollis had lived separated from each other, she was already laying sleeping on one side of it. He got himself out of the clothes of the day and lay down near besides her. Hollis then cuddled herself into Gibbs body to feel the whole warmth of him and to be this close again to him made her smile in her sleep.

Gibbs got woken from loud screams that obviously came from the room of his daughter. Quickly he got out of bed, made his way just a few steps away down the corridor, went to the bedside of his daughter, took her shaking body into his arms and assured her: "Everything's fine, it was just a nightmare, you don't have to have fear anymore because I'm here now to protect you."

Kelly kept crying onto his shirt for a couple of more minutes and Gibbs did his very best to calm her down again by soothingly caress her back with his hand.

_AN: Sorry that it took so long to update, but didn't come up with any ideas for this chapter for quite a while. I hope you like it, please read and review and any constructive critics is always welcome._

_Thanks to- Ziva David 9741 for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, Thanks to- J and R 2011 for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, Thanks to- music teacher 89 for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, Thanks to- hslacer for reviewing this story, thanks to- dastiel for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, Thanks to- evesgreenleaf for adding this story to her story alert subscription._


	20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

_One Week later_

Kelly continued to have nightmares at night and Gibbs really wished that he could take care of this problem once and for all. He really knew one thing for sure: He had to find those men, that had made his little girl so much emotionally scared and make sure that they would be never ever be able to hurt her again. But could he really get away a second time without getting caught or would he be betrayed by his luck this time? He quickly put away all thoughts of doubt, because that would only avoid in the end that this whole thing could be a success. As Gibbs and Hollis sat alone in the living room, she clearly had noticed that something was really bugging him right now, so she asked him: "I know that look Jethro, you're definitely thinking about doing something really crazy, aren't you?"

Gibbs smiled at Hollis and said: "You just know me too well Hollis, I really don't know how right now but I've got to find those men who did that to my little girl, because they have to pay for it." His expression changed quickly into a very serious one and he hoped that she understood that he was ready to sacrifice everything for the well-being of his daughter. He wanted to take the pain away from her forever, so that she could have a normal and happy life like every teenager had at her age and it just broke his heart seeing her that vulnerable every time she wakes up from a horrible nightmare. Hollis took his hand into hers, softly stroke it and really felt sorry for his daughter, she really didn't deserve to go through all that pain and she would probably also do everything in her power to make the pain go away, if she would be in Gibbs position and it was her child that would have had to endure this mental torture.

"I know how hard it must be to see Kelly in such big pain and I just want you to know Jethro, that you and Kelly have my support the entire time." Hollis answered and then kissed him on the lips passionately. He was a little surprised at first by that bold action from her but then he finally kissed her back with all the passion he had in his heart right now for this lovely woman. A few minutes later, Kelly walked into the living room, Jethro immediately got up from his seat next to Hollis, tightly hugged his daughter and then said: "Good morning sweetheart."

"Good morning to you two." Kelly answered and Hollis then also greeted her with a smile on her face and together they then went into the kitchen to have some breakfast together of course Gibbs with his usual coffee standing next to his plate. Right at ths moment he was as happy as he could be, sitting here at the table with his daughter and Hollis Man, the first ever woman long after Shannon's death that he had felt in love with at first sight. Gibbs actually had never thought, that he could love another woman like he did love his first one after the devastating news, that some mad drug dealer had taken her away from him had made him feel so miserable. As his relationship with her began, he didn't think it would last for that long and it certainly looked that way, because his stressful work prevented at one time that they didn't spent the amount of the time together they wanted. Her and Gibbs had a long talk about their relationship, as they both know too well at that time that it certainly didn't play out the way they wanted and they decided to put it on ice so to speak for a while, so that both of them would be really sure in the end that they wanted to be together with the other person. In the evening Gibbs spontaneously decided to take his two ladies out for dinner even if Kelly insisted that she didn't have the right clothes for this occasion but he assured her: "You look just the way you look right now and you really don't dress up any special honey."

"Thanks dad and you and Hollis look really cute together." Kelly answered with a big smile on her face. Hollis then finally came down the stairs, Kelly tipped her father shortly on his shoulder, and Gibbs turned around to face his girlfriend and was totally stunned of the fact how beautiful she looked in her dress.

Hollis grinned brightly at him as he just kept staring at her in awe of her outfit; Kelly was really touched by this whole scene, because it got herself reminded of the time when her father looked that way at her dead mother.

Gibbs gentlemen like opened the ladies both doors to let them get into the car first and then they finally made their way to the restaurant.

_AN: Thanks to- Scorpion 14 gandy for adding this story to his favorite stories list, Thanks to- Vickie for reviewing this story, thanks to- hslacer for reviewing this story, Thanks to- Laura loves Sirius for adding this story to her favorite stories list. _

_Please read & review_


	21. Chapter 21

Chapter 21

While the three sat at the table they chatted a lot and Gibbs was happy that for some hours, his daughter could forget about all her troubles. But one thing he knew for sure: He needed to talk with Kelly about what had happened from the day he thought, that she and her mother had been killed by assassin paid by the drug dealer Pedro Hernandez up until she surprisingly returned back into his life. He didn't want to that for himself; he also wanted to help Kelly coping with the unimaginable pain she had suffered during the last years. He remembered that in Kuwait like it was yesterday, the pain that he had felt inside had been almost too much for him to bear with. He had promised to himself on that day, to find who did this, make him pay and all he thought about on the flight home to a now big empty house was vengeance.

_Flashback_

_Gibbs had returned just recently from the Desert Storm Operation in Kuwait and after having done some research, he had found out that his wife Shannon had witnessed a murder of a marine while Gibbs was in Kuwait. The NIS had provided Shannon with a bodyguard, because the Special Agent in Charge of this Case Mike Franks knew that Pedro Hernandez would definitely try to take out the main witness in this murder case against him. But one day on the drive home, the NCIS agent that sat on the driver seat got shot in the head by a sniper and that resulted in an accident that killed Shannon and Kelly at once._

_Right now he was standing in the office of Mike Franks, talking with him about the case, he telling Gibbs that Hernandez had fled to Mexico and the Mexican authorities weren't able to find him anywhere. Gibbs could tell very well that Franks didn't believe a word, that the Mexican police said to him but Mike told him that his hands were bound by higher ups and that he of course couldn't give him Hernandez location if he knew it. A little later Franks excused himself to the bathroom, because the file lay open on Franks table, Gibbs took the file and looked through it after Mike was out of side. After a long trip to Mexico, he made a short pause for coffee in a café in the city center and he was very determined to find the man that was responsible for the death of his loved ones no matter how long it was going to take. _

_End Flashback_

Hollis looked at him a little concerned, as she realized that Gibbs was somewhere else with his thoughts and that he probably didn't remember something good. "What is it Jethro? You seem a little bit off for a while now, if something is bothering you right now, you know that you can tell me everything right?" Gibbs looked deep into her eyes for a moment, wiping away that thoughtful expression quickly and answered: "Everything is alright but thanks for asking Hollis I appreciate your concern. I just got a little thoughtful because I thought about the fact, that I have my wonderful daughter back into my life and woman who loves me. I've really got to say that you two look really wonderful tonight in your dresses and now a toast to you Kelly." Gibbs and Hollis raised their wine glasses and Kelly her glass with Coca Cola and they all clinked glasses. Kelly had followed this whole conversation and she knew her father so well, to know right at this moment that he didn't tell the whole truth and that he was bothered by one thing only : Answers to questions like how she had survived the accident a couple of years ago? She needed to talk with him, when they were back at home because they both needed some questions answered. Later the three finally arrived back home and as they sat together on the couch in the living room, Kelly said to Hollis and her father: "This was really nice tonight we should this more often dad." Gibbs smiled at her as she said that, kissed her softly on her forehead and answered: "I'm glad you enjoyed the spontaneous dinner at the restaurant that much sweetheart."

_Flashback_

_Pedro Hernandez was driving down a muddy road with his old truck, looking very relaxed at this moment but what he didn't know was that his life would end very sudden shortly by a bullet from a sniper rifle of Ex-Marine Gunnery Sargent Leroy Jethro Gibbs. That one shot, that Jethro fired at Hernandez was aimed straight at his head and resulted in the immediate death of the well-known Mexican drug dealer. _

_End Flashback_

As Hollis finally went to bed later in the evening, Kelly and her dad were the only ones left sitting on the couch in the living room. They sat there in silence for quite a while, because no one knew exactly what to say right now before Kelly finally broke the uncomfortable silence: "So…..did you marry after mom had died?" Gibbs got thoughtful for a moment again, thinking about his three ex-wives really wasn't exactly something positive to look back on but after some hesitation on his part, he finally answered: "Yeah I did, three times actually but none of them couldn't replace your mom and it all weren't happy marriages to say the least. Having you back in my life, makes it more easily to cope with the fact that I lost that beautiful woman that your mother was forever.

You do look a lot like your mother and she certainly would be proud, if she could see right now what a wonderful young lady you have become." Some tears of joys started to come down her cheeks as her father said those very touching words, Gibbs instantly tightly hugged her and while crying at his chest she said in between sobs: I miss her so much dad, I miss her so much." He softly caressed her back and answered: "I miss her too."

After her sobs had finally died down, Kelly reminded her dad of the little episode in the restaurant tonight and that she knew what was bothering him all the time. So she told him all things, that happened years ago, from the day Jethro had thought she and Shannon had died in a horrible car crash up onto the point where she surprisingly returned back into his life.

_AN: Thanks to- Jmckenne for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list, Thanks to- Mary for reviewing this story, Thanks to- Ice and Fire dragon for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list. I didn't want to go in details in this chapter yet, because this one would have been too long in the end. Kelly's story will be told in the next chapter and I hope I can write that, without leaving any logic holes behind in the end. I hope you liked this chapter and as always: Please read and review_


	22. Chapter 22

Chapter 22

_Flashback_

_Shannon Gibbs had a bad feeling about this, one week ago she had testified against the dangerous drug dealer Pedro Hernandez and now she and her eight year old Kelly where sitting in the car on their way to Shannon's parents, with NIS Agent Brent Pierce at the helm, who was their personal bodyguard since the trial against Pedro Hernandez had started. But she didn't know, if she and Kelly were as save as NIS Special Agent Mike Franks had tried to assure her the whole time because deep down she feared that Pedro Hernandez "long arm" would reach her also at her parents' house. She looked to the backseat, where her sweet little daughter sat and she could see in her eyes fear, which Shannon could totally understand because she felt the same way, even if she tried her very best to be strong for the both of them. _

_She really wished Jethro was here right now, to tell her that everything was going to be alright and he would make sure personally that nothing would happen to her and Kelly. But he wasn't, Leroy was still in Kuwait, he wouldn't be back before next week, she and Kelly really missed him and they both had felt really lonely from the first day on Jethro was gone to Kuwait. Here in the middle of nowhere there were no solid streets, they were almost driving now for an hour and as long as they drove past all these big trees on both sides she got more and more nervous, because she feared that somewhere was a trap prepared for them but on the other hand she didn't want to bury herself in the hole. Kelly could see that her mother was scared, even if she tried the best to hide it from her eight year old daughter but she was smarter than her mom thought. _

_Kelly hated the fact that her dad was not with them right now, in the end she didn't know if her dad would make it home in one piece because from her mother she knew that war was a very dangerous thing and that scared her very much. The NIS Agent had the road in his sight all the time, ready to react immediately when he would spot a danger for the two persons he had to protect all the time: Shannon Gibbs and her eight year old daughter Kelly and he was pretty confident that they would reach their final destination without any problems on the way. _

_Two hours later_

_They were now only two more miles away from reaching the interstate; Shannon had now a more relaxed expression on her face because they had got so far without any incidents. But all of a sudden, Agent Pierce spotted a black SUV in the rear mirror and really wondered where that car come from and if there route maybe had been compromised. He decided to not increase the speed of his vehicle but to just watch the next moves of the driver that tailed them, of course he didn't believe in any coincidences' but doing something foolish at this time would definitely put the lives of them all in great jeopardy. In the End the NIS Agent did his very best to keep their opponent away from them, but suddenly they were right next to them and started shooting at the car. Pierce shouted at Shannon: "Take cover!" Kelly and her mother quickly took their heads out of range, but the NIS Agent didn't have that luck: two bullets directly hit him into the head and made him immediately collapse into the steering wheel of the car. _

_Shannon really panicked now, as she realized that their bodyguard had been shot dead moments ago, now with a big bloody wound at his forehead and for quite a while she just froze because she didn't really know what to do now. While Shannon then finally tried her very best to keep the car on the road, the attacker kept shooting at them and on the backseat the little Kelly kept on crying, now just wanting to rest in her daddy's arms and really wishing that all this was just a nightmare. _

_The car then spiraled out of control as one of the tires was flattened by constant gunfire and so before the car went off the cliff Shannon screamed to her daughter: "Go Kelly, save yourself darling!" Kelly looked out of the window, seeing the abyss coming nearer, looked back to her mom with tears in her eyes and said: "But mommy I don't want to leave you!" As her daughter said tears also rolled down her cheeks at this very moment, even if the doom was coming nearer minute by minute and that made that decision even harder for her. They finally said their goodbyes to each other, Kelly jumped out of the car right before the car with her mother still inside went off the cliff and rolled herself into the grass._

_End Flashback_

Kelly started again to cry into Jethro's chest as she had finished this part of her story and he felt so sorry for her. The sobs quickly died down again, she looked her dad deeply into his eyes and as she saw that look in his face, that said more than a thousand words: "I know what you want to say and yes I want to continue with this because that way, me and you are going to get some closure in the end."

_AN: Thanks to- amy Cullen 1993 for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription, Thanks to- Amy for reviewing this story, Thanks to- Phoebe the queen of Dragons for adding this story to her/his story alert subscription. Please read and review _


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 23

_Flashback_

_A very loud explosion occurred moment after Kelly had savely landed in the grass. She immediately covered her ears, quickly hid behind a big bush and watched from a save distance as the two gunmen got out of their car and started to inspect the wreckage. A rush of adrenalin pumped through her veins as the gunmen drew away from the car wreck, started to directly head into her direction as it seemed and now she thought: *Oh no! How the hell do they know, that I hide here?* as she tried to run for her life, one of the gunmen spotted her and screamed to his comrades: "I've found her!" Kelly tried her very best to get away from the men, as fast as she could but no matter how hard she tried, her young body wasn't in the condition to run that long and so she soon was grabbed by one of the men. She tried to fight her way out of his grip, bit him in his arm and tried to get out of these two very heavy arms but all to no avail. _

_To stop her from fighting them, one of the men sedated her with some unknown medicine and even if tried her very best to fight the effects of it, she soon became very drowsy and wasn't happy that she had lost the battle. She woke up one hour later in a very dark room, her hands were bound tightly to a steal chair and a blindfold prevented her to see anything that was around her. The eight year old Kelly was scared, she didn't know if she would see the daylight and her daddy again. Some tears ran down her cheeks, as the pictures of her mother's death kept flashing before her eyes and having no one at her side to dry her tears that made her even more sad then she was right now._

_End Flashback_

A single tear rolled down one of Gibbs cheeks, something that rarely happened and he was surprised of this fact himself. Kelly looked at her dad for quite a while, took him in her arms as she saw how shaken up he was from that very touching story. Later the two walked downstairs into the basement of the house, as Gibbs wanted to show her some things, especially the time capsule from her and her best friend Maddie Tyler that the two girls had hidden in his garden, just right before he had to Iraq with the Marines. "Wow, I never thought that I would see that thing ever again." Kelly said as she looked with a bit of disbelief at the yellow box, that brought back memories of her happy childhood but also made her kind of sad as she realized that her mother couldn't be here to enjoy this second chance she had been given.

She finally opened the yellow box, a little smile crept on her face as went through her personal treasures from her childhood, that been suddenly taken away from her but she also remember the happy times she had with her dad and her best friend Maddie. She looked a little bit more at the surroundings in the basement: _*so here Dad had spent most of his time when he wasn't at work* _She missed Maddie really much as she thought about her at this very moment, wondered if she still lived in the same area and how she would react if she knew that her best friend from childhood days was still alive. If Kelly was in her situation, she would probably tell the person: You are totally out of your mind! She then spotted the picture of a young girl and her father, obviously at his workplace NCIS, turned around to face her dad and asked: "Who is she dad?"

Gibbs walked to the wooden table, looked at the photo of her and Maddie with a smile and said: "That's Maddie your best friend of your childhood days, do you remember her?" Kelly looked at the picture of her and Maddie that lay in the time capsule, then back at the young blonde haired girl and then finally said: "Yes I do remember her, how is she doing these days?" Gibbs was glad to see, that she still could remember her best friend from her childhood, even if she had herself such a short one. He and Maddie were still in contact, after this one day where Gibbs had saved her live and remembered a great moment they had together.

_Flashback_

_Gibbs and Maddie sat together in the living room of her apartment, she had kindly asked if he wanted to drink something and he had decided to take coffee. The coffee proved to be not that very good in the end, but Gibbs didn't want to seem unappreciative, so he took some little sips of the unknown beverage and wished a little that he had bought some of his favorite coffee in a nearby store before he came here. _

_She suddenly brought him back into reality as she showed him an old photo of his daughter and said: "We buried a time capsule in your garden; Kelly put all her personal treasures in it. Do you remember who took that picture on that day?" He looked closer for some seconds at it and answered: "Yes I did, that was one week before I had to go to Iraq." Once again he saw the laughing faces of Kelly and Maddie in front of him and for the first time in a couple of years, it hurt very much to know that he wasn't able any more to hold her in his arms._

"_How do you think would she look like today?" Maddie asked, knowing how much it hurt Gibbs to talk about his dead daughter and she was totally feeling with him. _

_He looked silently for quite a while at her and then finally answered: "She would look just like you."_

_End Flashback_

His daughter's hand on his shoulder finally brought him back to reality: "She's doing very good, Maddie is working in a little coffee shop in DC, maybe we can arrange a meeting so that you can see each other again."

_AN: Thanks to- Twihard Steph for reviewing this story, Thanks to- Pink Glitter Girl for reviewing this story,for adding it to her favorite stories list and for adding it to her story alert subscription, Thanks to- HP and LOTR Fan 4 ever for adding this story to her/his favorite stories list._

_Please read & review_


	24. Chapter 24

Chapter 24

Kelly thought about that what her dad had just said, seeing her best friend of her childhood days after all these years again made her ask herself the following question: How would Maddie react, when she would hear about Kelly's story? Probably she wouldn't believe it was her, because to be true this whole thing really sounded too good to be true and Kelly would probably understand very well if she would think, that the whole story was nothing more than a big fraud but she of course of convinced that she would able to convince Maddie otherwise.

Finally she then answered: "Yes seeing her after all these years would be nice, but can you do me one favor dad?" Gibbs wondered what that favor would be, but he surely would do her this one, so he answered: "Yes of course, anything you want my princess." He smiled at her encouraging, softly kissed her forehead and he wanted to say by doing that: no matter what happens, I'm always here to support you all the way. Kelly didn't know what she would do without the continuous support from her dad; it really helped her to get her through her insecurity that had existed still she had returned just shortly into the "normal world". "Can you accompany to the meeting with Maddie because I don't think I can do it alone?"

"Yes I can do that Kelly." Gibbs answered and really was happy that his daughter wanted to reunite with her best friend from childhood days with his support. He could totally understand that she was nervous because of all this and he probably would feel the same way if he was in her position. They said together in living room for a while, looking through old pictures of happier times even if it was difficult for Jethro to bring back these old memories that he had locked away a long time ago because they were too hurtful to look at. But for his princess he wanted to be strong, she needed all the support she could get from him, getting used to a normal life again would be surely a great burden to carry for her but he would guide her all the time on this hard way. Kelly finally got tired, so she slowly fell asleep onto her dad's shoulder, Jethro softly stroke her head and whispered: "No one will ever harm you again, I promise." As came through the door of the house, she watched that scene play out in front of her without disturbing them before Gibbs finally noticed her presence in the room and softly laid Kelly on the couch without waking her.

"Hey good to have you back here, how was dinner with your ex-colleague Christie?" Gibbs asked her after the two went to sit down in the kitchen to talk a little bit at this late hour of the day. They shared a long passionate kiss before she finally answered: "It was very nice, Christie said after she got used to all the extra stress, that it isn't so difficult anymore to fill my footsteps as my successor at Army CID." Hollis had quit her post at the Army CID, so that she and Jethro would have much more time than before to work on their relationship. They kept on talking for quite some while, until Hollis finally said: "I'm going to bed now Jethro, you're coming with me?"

"I'll be with you shortly after I lay Kelly into her bed upstairs." Jethro answered, and then he softly lifted his daughter up from the couch without waking her and carried her upstairs in her room. He watched her sleep peacefully in her bed for a while from the doorframe and then whispered: "Sweet Dreams my princess."

He was almost awake all night, thinking about the best way he could explain this whole thing to Maddie without her totally freaking out. He told Hollis about the problem, as she sensed that something was really bothering him right at this moment and after a short talk, he could finally go to sleep and hoped that the meeting between Kelly and Maddie would go well. The next day, Gibbs left his home for his favorite coffee shop in the city, where the long time childhood friend of his daughter worked since the beginning of the last year and where you could get the best coffee in the entire city in his opinion.

Maddie smiled at him as she saw him approaching the service desk at the coffee shop and he before Jethro could say anything she said: "Let me guess, you take your coffee as usual?" Gibbs smiled back at her, nodded and then answered: "You know my coffee taste very well by now."

"That's part of my job." Maddie answered and then put his coffee in front of him to drink, Gibbs then took his wallet from one of his jeans pocket and then said: "We have to talk Maddie and this thing may seem to be good to true but Kelly my daughter and your best friend from childhood days is alive." Maddie had a shocked expression on her face for a few minutes and didn't really know what to say for quite a while. Could it really be true? Was Kelly really alive? It was no matter what very difficult to believe for her right now but on the other side, she had gotten to know Gibbs very well the past year and he didn't seem to be a guy that would make a joke about a thing this serious. Gibbs had kind of expected this reaction from Maddie and he definitely totally understood it, but to finally the break the uncomfortable silence between he said: "I know how hard this all is to digest right, trust me I felt the same way as another person told me that but it would really mean a lot to her if you would meet today and I'm sure that you feel the same way deep down."

Maddie was finally able to collect herself again and after she took a deep breath she answered: "Yeah I would also like to meet her, at the afternoon would a good time." Jethro agreed on that proposal then he finally started to drink his coffee before it got cold and he hated cold coffee. In the afternoon the three finally met in a little restaurant, both girls really not sure how to act towards each other and just stood motionless next to each other.

Maddie then finally decided to make the first step; tears started to roll down her cheeks, Kelly put aside her nervousness and tightly hugged her best friend from childhood days.

"I missed you so much." Maddie said in between sobs, because she was so overwhelmed with feelings of joy for seeing Kelly again after all these years.

_AN: Thanks to- hp and lotr fan 4 ever for adding this story to her story alert subscription, Thanks to- hslacer for reviewing this story, Thanks to- Athena kitty for adding this story to her story alert subscription, Thanks to- Sarah for reviewing this story. Please read and review_


	25. Chapter 25

Chapter 25

Later the two girls and Gibbs sat at a table in the coffee shop; where Maddie worked and they had they had tried their best to answer each other's questions that came to their minds. Maddie of course still had a hard time digesting this whole story, because it still seemed too good to be true but on the other side she was glad to have her best friend from childhood days back. Gibbs was happy that Kelly was able to open up in front of Maddie, he could totally understand that Maddie probably still had a hard time comprehending this whole story because he was in the same position as his daughter surprisingly returned into his live.

After they had all finished their drinks, Gibbs paid for the three of them and they went to his car that stood just a few meters away from Maddie's workplace. When they finally reached the yellow Dodge Kelly then asked her childhood friend: "You want to accompany us home or do you have anything else planned?" A smile crept upon Maddie's face and without hesitating much she answered: "No I don't have anything else planned for tonight, I could really use some company for the rest of the day since there is waiting an empty house for me." Kelly smiled at her as she accepted and Gibbs eyes became watery for a short amount of time because it touched him so much, seeing his daughter so happy again after all the stress she had been through recently. The gentleman he was, he held open the door for both of the girls to get in the car and the two were laughing and talking a lot during the car ride.

Kelly was getting more and more confident and felt very secure right now, knowing that her dad was there to protect her from anyone that would try to harm her. She was happy to be able to spent time with her best friend from childhood days again, so much good memories from her childhood, that was taken away from her so suddenly now popped up in her mind in her mind. Later the three sat together in Gibbs basement, Gibbs drinking a cup of coffee and the two girls drinking a hot chocolate as the two were looking together through a photo album that he had pulled out of dusty carton. It felt looking through all the old photos from their childhood but it also made her sad, knowing that her childhood had ended in dark hole not knowing if she would ever see her dad again. Kelly wished that her mother was here to witness this all this, but she wasn't thanks to Pedro Hernandez that took her away from her because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Kelly finally put that thoughts away for now only trying to focus on the positive things and she didn't want her dad to worry. In the end she could imagine really could Hollis being her stepmother, she and dad seemed to be the perfect couple and she could only imagine how hard it had been to let a woman again in his live.

Kelly hadn't seen any pictures of her mom anywhere in the house and she totally understood why, after her dad had told her through how a rough time he had went after the death of his first wife. He was never as happy again as with his first wife, the three marriages after her where a complete failure and he didn't even know why he had married them in the first place. The three were so much occupied with looking through old memories, that they didn't notice Hollis walking down the wooden steps of the basement. She surveyed this whole scene in front of her for a moment before she finally said: "Hello Jethro there you are, dinner for us is ready, and can you come upstairs before it gets cold?" Gibbs turned around to face Hollis and said: "Of course we can and Hollis this is Maddie Tyler, the best friend of her childhood days." Maddie then also turned around, shook hands with Hollis and then she asked: "Nice to meet you Maddie, you want to eat with us?" Maddie smiled at her and answered: "Of course I would love to." The three then later sat at the table in the kitchen, the two girls talked a lot in between eating, Hollis and Gibbs watched this whole scene play out in front of them and Hollis said to Gibbs: "It's great to see her that happy after all the drama she had to get through."

"Yes it really is, her smile is really contagious and I've never been happier in my life before." He kissed her on her forehead she smiled back at him and he could really imagine her to be his daughter's new mom.

_AN: Thanks to- Sarah for reviewing this story, please read and review_


	26. Chapter 26

_AN: This is the final chapter of the story, please read and review. Thanks to- Lizzie for reviewing the story, Thanks to- hslacer for reviewing the story, Thanks to- eliza 1929 for adding this story to her story alert subscription._

Chapter 26

Kelly had enjoyed the time so much with Maddie on this day, that she spontaneously asked her to stay overnight and because her friend from childhood days also wanted to spent some more time with Kelly she agreed. Gibbs had prepared the guest room for Maddie, she thanked him for the hospitality as she, Gibbs and Kelly sat in the basement of the house where they continued to talk about the old times. Kelly finally got tired a little while later, she said goodnight to her dad and after she finally was out of sight Gibbs said to Maddie: "Your presence here does really make her feel good, I haven't seen her that happy this happy since she had endured that whole stress." She smiled at Gibbs and said: "Yeah you're totally right, it's nice to be able to spend time with her, after all these years that we thought that we had lost her forever."

Maddie and Gibbs continued to talk for quite a while, until she finally said: "I think I'm going to bed also, see you tomorrow Gibbs." Jethro walked up the stairs an hour later, stopped at his daughter's door before he went to bed and whispered: "Sweet Dreams my princess." He stepped nearer to her bed, softly stroke through her and wondered what the future held for them both. The next day in the evening, Gibbs decided to take his two girls to the cinema, Kelly and Hollis could choose in which film they wanted to see and also Maddie and Kelly had met in the afternoon at Maddie's house and went clothes shopping for Kelly. Gibbs was happy that the two childhood friends had reconnected again after all these years, surely the three of them were a kind of happy family with the only exception that he and Hollis still weren't married because he wasn't sure if he really wanted to marry again after three failed marriages. Was he really ready to replace Shannon, his first wife that was the perfect match for him? But maybe Hollis was that special woman that he thought would never come into life again and were he could definitely imagine to have a family with and also settle down after all these years. In the end Kelly deserved to have a mother again, Hollis and Kelly seemed to get along very well and he could imagine Hollis as mother for his daughter but would she want that?

As Kelly and Hollis finally came downstairs, Gibbs was amazed how beautiful Hollis looked in the outfit she wear. "You both look really beautiful." The three finally went out of door to Gibbs car, like a real gentlemen he opened the door for Hollis and his daughter and let them get in first into the yellow dodge, that he had restored to his old glory with a lot of hard work during the times that he wasn't working on a case for NCIS. Gibbs loved it to have a happy family again, it reminded him of the old times where Shannon was still alive, Kelly was a happy little eight year old girl and he smiled a lot more in those times.

Just thinking about those times made him a little sad when the three sat in the cinema together later this evening but he quickly put those thoughts to rest, as he just wanted to enjoy the time with Hollis and Kelly. After watching the movie, Gibbs took Hollis and his daughter to a nice little Italian restaurant nearby and Kelly wanted to know more about the people who her dad worked with. They all enjoyed some nice pasta, talked about all the things that came to their minds and where having a good time for the next few hours.

"Your colleagues all seem to be such nice and interesting people to say the least, why don't you invite them over to your house for dinner tomorrow?" Kelly asked her dad out of the blue in between eating and Gibbs clearly hadn't expected that question as you could judge by the look on his face. But finally after he had his mouth empty he said: "That's a nice idea; I hope its ok with you Hollis to cook for so much people?" Hollis smiled at him and said: "Of course it's ok for me Jethro, I'll figure something out to cook for you, Kelly and your team and it's definitely going to be nice to have them all in the house." Having the whole team over at his house for dinner, was surely something that he hadn't done ever before but he was looking forward to a nice evening with his team, that had become something like a second family for him outside of work.

The next day in the evening, after the whole team gladly had accepted Gibbs invitation for dinner, Kelly and Gibbs were busy with putting all the dishes and glasses on the long table in the living room since the kitchen was too small for the amount of people that were about to come tonight. After they had finished the last preparations for dinner, Ziva and Tony were the first to arrive and as he and Kelly shook hands he said with his usual flirty smile on his face: "Hi Kelly I'm very Special Agent Dinozzo and it's very nice to meet you." But as he sensed that Gibbs was obviously watching him with a menacing look on his face, he quickly wiped the little grin of his face and said: "Sorry Boss." Gibbs hit him lightly on the head and then they all sat down at the table waiting for the rest to arrive. Later all of them sat the big table together eating, talking and laughing in between eating their meal and Kelly couldn't feel any better, being able again to spend time with her dad and reconnecting with her old friend from childhood days.

After all the drama she had to endure the last years, she didn't thought that she would ever be able to feel that one particular thing: happiness.


End file.
